


Reticent

by fireroastedjules



Series: The Last Crouch [1]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-06
Updated: 2020-11-19
Packaged: 2021-03-09 02:22:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 6
Words: 28,739
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27417220
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fireroastedjules/pseuds/fireroastedjules
Summary: Corinna Crouch harbored secrets about her family her entire life. Her worst nightmare was them coming out of the woodwork. Now she must deal with the fall out and it includes more than she ever bargained for. With her life completely turned upside down, she has to adjust to her new normal. Follows book series with deviations from canon. Includes major OC and some minor OCs.
Series: The Last Crouch [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2003140
Kudos: 4





	1. In Which Corinna Gets Sorted

Corinna Crouch looked forward to going to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. She had been counting down the days in her plain calendar since she received her letter in the beginning of July. It was all a whirlwind of getting her new books and supplies. She, of course, lingered at Eeylops Owl Emporium, but her father gave a firm no on that.

"You can just use the school owls," Mr. Crouch said in slight annoyance. He had only asked for the morning off as he needed to sit in a few important meetings that afternoon. "Who would you need to contact besides me?"

Mr. Crouch asked this as a test. Corinna caught on quickly whenever this happened. "No one," she said simply, but she stilled dreamed about having an owl of her own. She thought the snowy one sleeping near the door was beautiful.

"That's what I thought," he said, and it was as if he had taken a spoon and scooped out Corinna's heart. "You have all the books? Potion supplies?"

"What about my robes?" asked Corinna, looking forward to going to Madam Malkin's. She looked forward to all of it, even the mundane. It was not very often she left the house, so each time it happened it was a bit of an adventure.

"Your robes are fine," said Mr. Crouch dismissively as he looked over the file in his hands, expecting everyone else to dodge around him in the narrow alley. Corinna apologized on behalf of him, not wanting people to feel any ill will of them. "You just need black ones anyway, which is all you have."

"It's all you would let me have," Corinna muttered under her breath.

"What was that?" asked Mr. Crouch sharply. Guess he was paying attention more than Corinna expected.

"Nothing," she added quickly. "Are we going to get my wand now?"

They went to Ollivander's. The only place, according to Mr. Crouch, that was worth getting a wand. Corinna was most nervous about this part of the journey. Ollivander dotted over her as he took measurements and asked her questions like which was her wand arm and explaining what each wand was made with at its core.

"Try this," he suggested. "Walnut and phoenix feather, nine-and-a-half inches, flexible."

Corinna took the wand and waved it around, but before she could even complete the arch, Ollivander took it from her.

"Not quite, not quite," he muttered as he went about the shelves to look for another. "Chestnut with dragon heartstring, thirteen inches, firm."

It felt like Corinna tried a million different wands and she could feel Mr. Crouch growing impatient behind her. Finally, with a slight shake of his head, Ollivander grabbed another wand with a bit of apprehension. "Hawthorn with dragon heartstring, eleven-and-a-half inches, reasonably supple."

Corinna took the wand and immediately sparks flew from the tip. "Oh, excellent," he said. "I would normally not give a hawthorn wand to an inexperienced witch or wizard, but it seems to be the perfect fit."

"Thanks," she mumbled, not quite sure how to interpret that one. It seemed that Ollivander wanted to say more, but Mr. Crouch was hurrying them along. He gave Ollivander the gold for the wand and they moved on.

After the morning spent at Diagon Alley, she was excited to tell Barty all about it. It wasn't one of his more lucid moments, so Corinna gave him a play-by-play without stopping or waiting for commentary as it was never going to happen.

Corinna kept talking, it was easier than looking at her brother. He could only not wear an invisibility cloak while in his room where the curtains are always drawn. Whenever she asked what was wrong with him, Mr. Crouch would simply say that he was sick and to quit asking so many questions. And to also never mention him outside of the house. No one can know that he was sick.

But she talked to him anyway. He was her only friend, after all.

Corinna talked and talked, moving on from the lackluster Diagon Alley onto the latest book she was reading. It was late in the afternoon when Winky apparated into the room. "Master Barty must rest, Mistress Corinna. Winky take him now."

And just like that, Corinna was alone, marking another day until she went to school.

August was only punctuated by various tutors that Mr. Crouch assigned to Corinna. She always went to their houses, as others were not allowed to visit Crouch Manor. It was mostly languages, and some of the tutors were muggle, and Corinna had to especially be well behaved during those lessons. She had a few with magical folks and one that Corinna always thought was odd for her to learn: occlumency.

September the first did not come fast enough. Not soon enough, Corinna was taking her trunk and school bag into King's Cross. She asked if it would be possible for Barty to go with them, but Mr. Crouch did not even grace the idea for even a moment. "What part of 'no one can know about him' do you not understand, Corinna?"

And that was it for that.

She was going through the station with only her father. He kept looking at the time even though they had plenty of time before the train was set to depart. It seemed that he was unable to get the whole morning like he had when they went to get her school supplies. Corinna tried not to let it show how much it bothered her.

They found the wall between Platforms Nine and Ten. There were other young witches and wizards who were eager to cross over to the other side, they just had to wait for the muggles to be distracted long enough for them to slip through. She shifted her weight uncomfortably as she watched a couple of students rush up and then disappear beyond the brick façade. Corinna never watched someone do that before, and she felt a slight shiver run down her spine. Before she could fully process what was happening, Mr. Crouch grabbed her arm and ushered her through the barrier. She blinked and it was over. She was on the platform with the scarlet steam engine, glistening with golden letters advertising the fact that it was the Hogwarts Express.

"I will see you for Christmas holidays," said Mr. Crouch easily. "Be careful what you say in letters home." With that, he Apparated away.

"Bye, I guess," Corinna muttered as she stared at the space her father used to occupy. She turned back to the train and stared at his magnificence. She woodenly stepped on and found the first unoccupied cabin. She struggled to get her trunk into the overheard. She put everything, save for her Potions textbook, above her and sat down on the bench. She opened it to the bookmarked page and tucked in.

It was only a few minutes later when there was a gentle knock on the glass door. Corrina looked up to see a bushy-hair girl and a confused-looking boy standing behind her. "Do you mind if we sit with you?" the girl asked, and immediately lit up when she noticed Corinna reading one of their textbooks. "Oh, our Potions text. I found that a very interesting read. I cannot wait to make some of the potions, but they will probably start us off on Wiggenweld."

Without even waiting for Corinna's confirmation, the girl sat down, and the boy shuffled in as well. For what it was, Corinna stood up to help them get their trunks secured. "I'm Corinna Crouch," she greeted them finally. "And you are?"

"I'm Hermione Granger," she answered, sounding rather rehearsed. "And this is Neville Longbottom. Him and his grandmother helped me onto the platform. I was thankful since this is all so new to me and my parents."

Corinna paused as she looked over Hermione. "You're Muggle-born?"

"Is that what it's called?" asked Hermione, looking positively thrilled at the notion. She was so naïve that Corinna hoped that she never heard what some wizards call those with non-magical parents. She remembered her brother saying it a few times during his lucid moments, and she told him to not say that. "Isn't that fascinating? That someone without any magical lineage can be born with magic?"

"Sure," Corinna said, wondering if all the Muggle-borns were going to be like this. Would she be like this if she had no idea that she had magic coursing through her veins? Her magical lineage was something she had always known about. Pretty much the only thing that her father ever talked about with pride. They were Pureblood and should be proud of it, but Corinna did not see what the big deal was. It did not helped her brother in the slightest.

"Does that mean both your parents are wizards?" asked Hermione.

"Yes," said Corinna, feeling a tad awkward at the question. She did not know much about her mother since she was so young when Corinna died. She sometimes felt like she never even had a mother since her father did not speak much about her.

"What about your parents, Neville?" Hermione asked.

In response, he turned red in the face and Corinna decided to change the subject. That did not seem like anything he wanted to talk about.

"That's not typically something you go around asking people," Corinna told Hermione, something she wished she would have thought to say after Hermione asked her in the first place. "If people want you to know, they will tell you."

Hermione nodded eagerly. "So, which potion were you reading about?"

They went on about this as the train gave off one last whistle and started off away from the station. It was easy for Corinna to talk about potions. Although she was fascinated by all their subjects, she was drawn towards potion-making. She had even tried a potion she could make using the potions kit that was required, but it turned into a smoking, solidified mess in the bottom of her cauldron. Winky had to help her clean up the mess before Mr. Crouch got home.

The hours seemed to eat away, which was fine with Corinna. Hermione had read all their assigned texts from cover to cover and was more than willing to part with the knowledge, so Corinna just had to sit there and listen to the girl prattle on. It took the food trolley stopping at their compartment that they realized the time had gone on.

"Oh, my goodness," Hermione said as they were laden down with sweets from the trolley. "We should put on our robes. We should be there soon."

Neither Neville nor Corinna had a reason to dispute that, so they went along with it. They shrugged on their black robes and Neville began looking around wildly. "Where's Trevor?"

"Who's Trevor?" Corinna asked, looking confused.

"My toad," he explained. "Gran is going to kill me if I've already lost him."

Much to Corinna's annoyance, they agreed to split up and look for the toad. Corinna went down the train towards the caboose, asking various groups of people, knowing full well that she was now going to be known as the first year who asked everyone about some other kid's toad. All she hoped was that people understood that it was someone else's toad, not hers. Not that anyone cared, really. All anyone was really talking about how the boy who lived was on the train. It took her by surprise that she was, if the rumors were true, going to be in the same year as that boy who defeated the darkest but greatest wizard of the age.

The sky steadily grew darker as they approached Hogsmeade Station. She met Hermione and Neville back at their compartment, neither of them having any sort of luck with finding him.

The pulled into the station with the two girls reassuring Neville that they will find him in the castle, not that Corinna believed that unless there was some sort of magic involved. They took their trunks to the designated area where they would be taken to the castle when they heard someone calling for "firs' years."

Corinna did not expect to meet a giant. Well, he seemed like a giant of a man being twice as tall as any man and three times as wide. He had a happy, ruddy face underneath the bush of black hair as he called forth the first years.

She got separated from Neville and Hermione as she was ushered onto a boat with a couple of talkative girls. Corinna paid them no mind as they went around the bend and Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry came into view. It was even more breathtaking than she ever imagined with its spindling towers, glass lit up with an orange glow, and the castle so vast it was hard to take it all in at once.

One by one, they filed off the boats and made their way into the entrance hall surrounded by twinkling lights. They approached a stern looking woman, who seemed to survey them all with a critical eye as if she were determining who would be the ones to cause trouble already. She introduced herself as Professor McGonagall and Corinna immediately decided she was never going to cross this woman.

Corinna barely registered what was said after she mentioned the sorting. It was the only thing she was really dreading about coming to Hogwarts. As both her father and brother like to mention, they were a proud Slytherin household. Embedding the core beliefs of cunning and ambition should not have been something to have distaste over. Rather, it left a bitter taste in Corinna's mouth on what the house seemed to mean nowadays. But what was she to do: honor her family's legacy or find her own path? The problem being: where did she belong?

She did not even notice the professor leaving to check to see if the others were ready for the first years. Corinna was dragged by her reverie by some ferret-faced jerk talking loudly. "You wouldn't want to be seen with the wrong sort, would you?"

Even on her tiptoes, she was unable to see who the punk was talking to, since he was being flanked by a couple of human-shaped boulders. But she could not help but smirk when the boy he was talking to said, "I think I've gotten that sorted out for myself, thanks."

It seemed like the ferret boy wanted to say something else, but he was interrupted by Neville loudly shouting "Trevor!" just as Professor McGonagall returned to bring them into the Great Hall.

Corinna felt like her heart was lodged in her throat as she shuffled along with the other nervous first years, dreading what was to come. They all gathered towards the front where a stool sat with a shabby looking hat perched on it. The last thing she expected was the hat to open at one of the seams and start to sing. As she was at the edge of the group, she glanced over at those sitting at the nearest table. They seemed to watch the hat with disinterest, so it was something the article of clothing did often. Simply, she did not think there would be any more surprises when it came to the world she grew up in.

"When I call your name, you will sit the hat on top of your hat and you will be sorted into your houses." Professor McGonagall looked over a list. "Abbott, Hannah."

Corinna took in a sharp intake of breath. It was in alphabetical order. Oh, how she wished her last name started with something other than C. She became aware how she was running out of time. One by one, the students went up when called, all looking nervous at the prospect. Her heart really started to race once McGonagall had moved on from the B's and went down the short list of students whose surnames started with C.

"Crouch, Corinna."

It was a good thing that this happened before they ate dinner as Corinna felt like she was going to be sick. She had to push her way to the front, feeling like every eye in the Great Hall was on her and her alone. She sat down on the stool and looked down at the floor as Professor McGonagall placed the hat on top of her head. It slid down her eyes, obscuring the students in her peripheral.

_The last Crouch._ Corinna did not like how the hat said that into her ear, almost as if that was condemnation for what was to come. _You are a difficult one. You would do well in Slytherin. Your family has been in that house for generations. But you don't seem to think so..._

Her brows knit together as she tried to figure out the hat's words. Of course, she was dealing with an article of clothing, and an ugly one at that.

_Watch what you call ugly,_ said the hat, and Corinna paled at the idea that this hat was somehow reading her mind! It knew all about the inner turmoil she was dealing with when it came to which house she was going to be in for the next seven years of her life.

_But no matter. I've been called worse. I see it all in your head. A sharp tongue such as yours would do well with Slytherin where you can hone your cunning and ambition._

_No,_ she thought desperately. She knew she should make her father proud, but that was far from what she wanted. She liked to stand up for what she believed in, even if she felt like she lacked the courage to do such things, such as how her father treated her brother and Winky.

_Yes, yes,_ the hat continued, and Corinna felt as if she had been sitting there for hours, _you do have courage within you, you just need to find your way to it. Gryffindor would help you with that, even if Slytherin would be a better choice given your true nature, no matter how much you want to deny it's there._

Is that what she was afraid of? Being just like her father? Cold and distant to his children, especially to Barty. If Slytherins turned out people like her father, she wanted no part in that.

"Better be...GRYFFINDOR!"

It took her a moment to register that the hat had said her house out loud until Professor McGonagall had taken off the hat. She woodenly walked to the table that was cheering loudly. Even as she approached the smiling faces of the other Gryffindors, she still felt like she had done something wrong. She sat down next to Lavender Brown, the first sorted into Gryffindor.

Corinna scantly paid attention after that. However, she did notice that the two people she sat with on the train were both in Gryffindor along with her. As the ceremony continued on, she wondered if she could retroactively change her mind and redo her sorting when Professor McGonagall called out, "Potter, Harry."

The hall had never been quieter before that moment as a scrawny kid with jet black hair approached the stool. Corinna craned her neck over the other first years to see and she could not help but think...that was it? That was the boy who defeated the Dark Lord, who everyone called the Boy Who Lived. It looked like a light breeze could knock him over.

Much like with Corinna, it seemed to have taken the sorting hat a tad longer than others to place. He was, of course, sorted into Gryffindor, as anyone who had stopped the most powerful wizard in the world as a baby would be. He excitedly joined the Gryffindor table, which erupted into the loudest applause yet. He seemed relieved to be there, and she wondered where the Sorting Hat wanted to put him instead of Gryffindor.


	2. In Which Corinna Goes to the World Cup

The first three years of Corinna's school life went by in an uneventful manner. At least, her life was. Outside, things were interesting with her first year Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher secretly housing You-Know-Who, muggleborns being petrified by You-Know-Who during her second year, and dementors crowding around the school last year because You-Know-Who's right hand man escaped from Azkaban and was going after Harry Potter.

That was an interesting correlation that Corinna noticed. It all came down to the Boy Who Lived.

Not that she paid him much, mind you. She had enough on her plate to deal with. Why would she care what Harry Potter got up to during the school year? If she could do her homework in the library and get to class, she just let it go.

Until she no longer could.

The summer after her third year was starting off to be an odd one. Barty seemed to have been doing better, which thrilled both Corinna and their house elf, Winky. In fact, since he was doing so well, they came up with the perfect plan to make him happy.

Corinna knew she had to do this herself. She knew her father would react better if the house elf was not the one suggesting it. But it still made her insides feel like liquid. She stood in front of the doors to her father's study. She had only been inside a handful of times, and none of them had been when her father was inside. Shifting on the balls of her feet, Corinna finally drew up the courage and knocked.

There seemed to be a moment's hesitation as to why someone would dare disturb Mr. Crouch, but then there was a firm, "Enter," and Corinna knew there was no going back.

No personal items adorned the walls or desk. It was a no-nonsense set up with a large oak desk and highbacked chair. The desktop was meticulously organized right down to the inkwell and quills. A bookshelf stood behind the desk, full of magical law books and other materials of the sort.

Her father sat at the desk. There was nothing indicating what he was working on, so he must have stashed it away during the moment's pause before allowing Corinna to enter. "What is it? I am very busy. I have a World Cup to plan as well as...other things."

Corinna did not particularly care what those "other things" were, but she appreciated that, in a way, her father broke the ice. "It's actually about the World Cup," she said softly.

"Speak up," Mr. Crouch chastised. "If you are going to ask for something, you should show that you mean it. Where's that courage and bravery you supposedly have?"

Corinna asked herself that all the time, but she did not appreciate her father verbalizing her doubts. Without answering his question, she sucked in a breath and continued. "As I was saying. The World Cup is next month, and I know you have tickets." Mr. Crouch quirked up an eyebrow, but let his daughter continue. "And since Barty seems to be doing better, I was wondering if it would be possible for him to go. He loves quidditch," she added as she saw Mr. Crouch open his mouth to object, "and we will be in a box that is separated from the crowd. I could sit with him and he could be underneath an invisibility cloak. I know you don't really enjoy the games all that much, and you're only invited because you are helping plan it."

Mr. Crouch stared at Corinna for an uncomfortably long time, to the point that she wondered if he somehow broke her father. "What do you intend to do if he becomes belligerent?"

"He has been doing so much better now," Corinna pointed out. "He hasn't had an episode in ages."

"But it could still happen," Mr. Crouch reminded. "He's still sick."

Corinna still did not even know what he was sick with. Winky was strictly told to never say anything and, if she did, she had to punish herself. It only took once of Winky grabbing the hot rack in the oven for Corinna to never ask her again. And Corinna could barely muster up the courage to ask her father to do this, never mind something as simple as knowing her brother's diagnosis. All she had were a list of rules when it came to her brother: never have your wand on you as he could grab it and hurt himself, talk in short and easy sentences, and always stay out of his room whenever Mr. Crouch or Winky tell her to. She, of course, noticed how Winky never denied her. It was always Mr. Crouch.

"What if Winky came with us?" Corinna suggested. "She could do something if he does become belligerent. I could claim she's there to save you a seat."

"You aren't going to let this go, are you?"

"Consider it a very early birthday present for me," Corinna added, although they had not done much for her birthday to begin with. Now that she was in school, nothing ever happens for it.

Mr. Crouch narrowed his eyes, as if trying to bore a whole right into Corinna's brain. "We will have to work out some of the details, but fine," he said. "We'll see about getting your brother up to the World Cup."

Corinna felt like she was walking on air at the prospect. "Thank you, Daddy," she said, using the long unused epithet for him.

For the first time, she was not just counting down the days until she left for Hogwarts. She was also counting down to the World Cup. Although she personally did not care for quidditch beyond hoping Gryffindor won the house cup, she was looking forward to making her brother happy and getting him out of the dreary house.

They had to arrive a fortnight before the match as to have as few people around them as possible as an invisibility cloak worked only so well. Corinna did not mind it. Since Mr. Crouch was so busy running around like a chicken with his head cut off since Ludo Bagman was as useful as horse dung on a hot summer's day, and Winky insisted that she could keep an eye on Barty alone, Corinna finally got a taste of freedom.

Well, if was not her first taste. She got that during the Hogsmeade trips last year, but that was not complete freedom. Everyone was still on edge because of the dementors, and even if there weren't too many professors hanging around, it still felt like a supervised visit.

The campground was massive, swallowing up thousands and thousands of witches and wizards from all over the world. It seemed almost impossible to navigate and there were so many people she did not recognize. But, even then, she still seemed to run into her classmates.

"Hey, Corinna!"

She turned sharply, her blonde braid whipping over her shoulder. She relaxed a little when she noticed it was Terry Boot, a Ravenclaw in her year. She would not consider him a friend, per se, but they had studied a few times in the library together. He would help her with Transfiguration, and, in turn, she would help him with Potions.

"Hey," she greeted back, trying to give him an easy smile. As they drew closer to the match, she could not help but have nerves. Although Mr. Crouch states that he has it all figured out, she knew it came down to her brother behaving tonight. Since it has been awhile since he had an episode, she did not know whether to take that as a good sign or not. "How are you? How was your summer?" She wanted to smack herself for sounding so pathetic.

"It was good," said Terry, looking equally as nervous. "Just, you know, waiting to go back. I love my family, but I need a break from them."

Corinna could not help but snort. "I know what you mean."

An awkward silence fell upon them, and Corinna really did not know how to get them out of it herself. Thankfully, or not so thankfully, some of Terry's friends called him over and they bid each other goodbye.

Just a few hours before the match, Mr. Crouch lead Corinna, Winky, and Barty up to the Minster's box. There were two rows of chairs and they were shoved off to the end of the second row. Barty sat between Corinna and Winky, Corinna volunteering the very end as to help Winky deal with her fear of heights.

"Stay here until after everyone else leaves," Mr. Crouch said firmly. To Corinna, he added, "You do not leave this box, you hear me?"

Corinna seemed annoyed for being singled out in such a way. Maybe he did not like her walking around by herself the last couple of weeks. "Fine," she sniffed and turned back to the near-empty stadium.

The hours seemed to drag as the time for the match steadily approached. Ludo Bagman tried to strike up a conversation with Corinna about quidditch, but her knowledge was lacking to keep the exchange polite. He seemed more than eager when others began trickling into the box, including the dreaded Malfoys, the minister himself, and-

"Harry?"

Corinna did not mean to say his name aloud. He came in with the Weasley brood (which took up more of the seats) and Hermione. "Oh, hi, Corinna," he said in surprise and they took their seats at the front, just in front of where the three of them sat.

"What is your house elf doing here?" Hermione asked, giving Corinna a quizzical look.

"She's saving a seat for my father," Corinna explained, knowing it sounded silly. However, it had worked out just as Mr. Crouch said it would.

"You could have saved it yourself," Hermione pointed out. "And she looks absolutely terrified of being up here."

Corinna sighed heavily as she glanced over at Winky. "It's actually because my father doesn't want me alone since he won't be able to join us until after the match starts."

She noticed Malfoy snickering, and she hated giving him such ammo. She just kept reminding herself that this was for her brother. That was what mattered right now.

Hermione, being the cleverest witch of her age (although not in those exact words according to some of their fellow peers), did not look convinced, but the fanfare happening around them was enough of a distraction for her to turn around. Especially once the veela appeared on the field, no one gave a second glance to Corinna or Winky or the fact that Mr. Crouch never showed up to the game at all.

Even Corinna had to admit that the game was exciting. It wasn't every day that the team that caught the snitch lost the game overall. She supposed that was the appeal to games such as quidditch: you never really know who is going to win until the very end. Well, most of the time, anyway. She just hoped that Barty had fun as well, even if she could not ask him until they got back to the tent.

They waited until everyone had left the minister's box, and Corinna did not like how Bagman commented how he would have liked to see "Old Barty," but left it at that as he had many bets that needed to be settled before the night was out. They made their way down the rickety steps back down to where they had their tent. Corinna and Winky did their best to keep Barty between them without someone bumping into him, but they managed to dodge the rebel rousers and the sore losers and get back to their tent.

Of course, not before she had been spotted.

"Oi, Corinna!" It was Terry again, much to her annoyance. "You want to come over? We have a lot of celebrating to do!" It seemed that at least some of the group he was with were supporting Ireland.

"I need to meet up with my dad first," Corinna called back, deciding on not giving a direct no. It also had not dawned on him—at least immediately—that she did not know where they would be gathering.

Once in the safety of the tent, Corinna removed the invisibility cloak from her brother. Barty seemed to be in good spirits, but a bit twitchy. Maybe they jumped in too deep with going to the World Cup as his first bit of excitement in a long, long time, but it seemed to be worth it in the end. He at least settled down to sleep quicker than usual, which made Corinna wonder if she could go meet up with Terry and his friends. She knew the direction they were heading in, and it was close enough to the edge that there was very little left to traverse.

But it seemed that Mr. Crouch had better ideas. He had shoved his way into the tent just as Corinna was about to put on a warmer jumper. He first checked on Barty, and he seemed at ease with how well he was taken care of. "Okay," he began, "you had your fun, now you should be heading to bed." Corinna did not even get her chance to argue before he had ducked back outside to try and minimize as much damage as possible.

Corinna was on the verge of grudgingly removing her jumper, but she froze. Even her time at Hogwarts was plagued by always being the good daughter. She kept up her grades, and she toed the line and did not break school rules (at least none worth having to write home about). For once in her life, she thought she had deserved to finally live a little.

"Winky," she said, going over to where the house elf seemed to be trying to distract herself by cleaning the kitchen that had not been used since the last time she cleaned it. "Could you sleep in my bed tonight with the sheet drawn over your head? I'm going to go out to a party, and I don't want my father to know."

There was an inner turmoil obviously brewing within Winky. But, an order from a master was an order she had to follow. "As you wish, Mistress Corinna."

"Thanks," she said easily. She grabbed her wand that she had hidden in her bag. She rushed away from the tent and headed in the direction that Terry and his cohort were heading. As she continued further out, doubt began ebbing away at the excitement. What if she did not find them? Or, worse. What if she did find them and they did not want to hang out with her? She tried to be friendly to most everyone, but it was not like she could claim anyone as friends. Sure, she got along with the girls she shared a dorm with, but she never expected to be invited out on holidays.

Corinna was about to give up hope and go back to her tent when she heard Zacharias Smith call out "Isn't that Corinna Crouch?"

Terry seemed to be the only one who turned excitedly towards Corinna as she stood in the road. She regretted it now as he came over and grabbed her by the wrist. "Come on, it's just a few of us from school. We've got some butterbeer and, once my parents get to sleep, we can whip out the firewhiskey."

Someone had shoved a bottle into her hands. She, of course, new everyone standing around the fire as they recounted what happened during the match. Cho Chang was talking animatedly about how she was interested in trying out some of the moves Bulgaria's seeker had performed earlier.

"You might be able to get the snitch from Potter if you do that!" Lisa Turnpin snarked. It was hard to tell by the orange glow of the fire, but Corinna could have sworn that Cho's face grew faintly pink.

"Hey, watch it, we've got a Gryffindor in our midst," Mandy Brocklehurst pointed out. "She might tell Potter what we're planning."

Corinna shrugged. "If anything, Harry's planning to do the same thing. Krum was pretty good tonight."

"Pretty good?" Zacharias exaggerated. "Pretty good?! He's the best damn seeker the world has ever seen."

From then on, Corinna tuned out of the conversation. She just sipped at her butterbeer to help warm her up. Now that she was finally here, she was wondering how she could extract herself from the party. She was already pressing her luck by just leaving. At any point, Mr. Crouch could go into their tent and realize that it was really Winky under the covers.

But it seemed that Terry was doing what he could to keep Corinna in the conversation. "So, Corinna, you must have had some wicked seats, with your father and all." It wasn't a fact that Corinna liked advertising, but word did get around that he was the Head of the Department of International Magical Cooperation that worked with the other countries' ministries to put the World Cup and other international events together. She did not know much about the day to day stuff he handled, but she knew that he was also working on another event, but it wasn't as advertised as the World Cup.

"We were in the Minister's box," Corinna explained casually, but it seemed to make Terry's jaw drop at the prospect.

"You probably saw everything," he said. "You wouldn't even need binoculars."

It did not stop some of them, Corinna thought, like Harry and his friends.

There were flashes of light coming from behind the camp, causing everyone in the group to look up. "I thought we weren't allowed fireworks," Zacharias commented.

"We aren't," Corinna mumbled as she stared out at the flashes of red streaking above some of the tents. "Because those aren't fireworks."

"Those are spells," said Cho. "Stunners, looks like."

The jovial nature of the celebration came to a screeching halt. Corinna's blood ran cold and she dropped her near empty bottle of butterbeer. In the distance, she could see ragdoll bodies floating above the tents, dancing madly as someone cackled out a humorless laugh.

There were a few screams in the distance and Terry's parents came running out of the tent, ordering the kids to go to the portkey landing area.

But Corinna ran in the opposite direction, against the grain of all those who were seeking safety. It seemed that, whoever was attacking, were coming closer to where Corinna was trying to get back to her tent. She had to make sure Barty and Winky were safe.

"Corinna!" Someone grabbed her shoulder and she whipped around to see Terry. "You're going towards the attackers. Come on, this way!"

"I need to go back to my tent," Corinna shouted, and she was barely able to hear herself over the fray. She jerked her arm away from Terry. "I need to make sure my brother is safe!"

If Terry was confused at all by that statement, he did not verbalize it. Corinna never mentioned that she had a brother to anyone at the school. It was not as if she was ashamed of him, it was more out of convenience. No need to explain anything if pretended he did not exist. It made her feel horrible, but she thought that, if Barty was lucid, he would understand. "I'll help you," he said easily.

Now she was worried about one person she was going to have to tell. All she could really hope for once this nightmare was over that he could keep a secret.

They held hands as it made it easier to keep track of each other as Corinna fought against the current of people. It took far too long for Corinna's comfort to get back to her tent. She barged inside, but no one was inside. Both Barty's and Corinna's beds had been vacated in a haste.

"Maybe he ran for safety," Terry suggested, hoping that would help Corinna calm down as she had gone ghostly pale.

"He wouldn't have," Corinna whispered as she stared at the empty bed. The one rule about coming here was that, except for when they were at the match, they had to be in the tent at all times. So, Corinna had broken that rule a few times, but Winky wouldn't have. Winky would have been compelled to stay.

Unless something happened with Barty…

"But, come on," Corinna said as she grabbed Terry's hand again. "Maybe if we follow everyone, we'll be able to find—"

Corinna was cut off when a smokey green outline filled the sky. It was of a skull and snake. It was a mark she had seen on her brother's arm on the few occasions his sleeves rolled up. She asked Mr. Crouch about it, but he told her to ignore it and to never ask about it ever again. Despite her curiosity, she did as she was told.

Blindly, Corinna ran towards where the mark was conjured. Maybe she was just being silly, but there had to be some sort of connection between the mark in the sky and the mark on her brother's arm.

It was too much of a coincidence.

"Corinna, stop!" Terry held onto Corinna's arm like a vice and stopped moving. "Why would you be running towards that?" She looked back, his face green. "Th-that's his mark. That's You-Know-Who's." Her heart about stopped when she heard that. "They put up that mark whenever they killed someone, so people know who done it."

Corinna was glad she could not get her mouth to move or else she might ask something really stupid. Instead, she let Terry tug her back to the crowd where they ran for their lives. She barely followed where they were going as her mind was a million miles away. How could her brother, who on good days could call her by name, be a Death Eater? Did that mean her father was a Death Eater? She knew that he had dreams of becoming minister that never came to fruition.

Unable to stop herself, Corinna tore herself from Terry and stumbled over to a nearby tree. She wretched violently, only the butterbeer from earlier coming up and burning her throat.

"Hey, hey, it's okay," said Terry, rubbing Corinna's back. "We'll find him. But, right now, we have to go."

Corinna wiped her mouth with her jumper sleeve and continued to run with Terry until he found his parents. He convinced Corinna to stay with them as her father was probably working with magical law enforcement on this crisis. She did not like the idea of hunkering down and waiting. She had to find Barty, even if he was a Death Eater. First and foremost, he was her brother and she needed to take care of him.

Oh, why did she have to choose now to have a teenage rebellion moment?

It was utter chaos. It seemed that everyone was going every which way but straight down as some elected to fly away on brooms. Now that it seemed most were far, far away from the Dark Mark, some had just hunkered down and put up barriers around themselves and their families. There was no way that anyone was going to be getting a portkey any time soon.

It was the longest night of Corinna's life. She just sat next to Terry without saying a word. It did not help that his father was berating him for running off like that and it was all Corinna's fault. Not that his father mentioned that. Corinna wondered if Terry had told him about her brother while she was not paying attention. It was entirely possible since she could not even focus on anything at the present time.

As the darkest part of night approached, ministry officials were telling people that they could go back to their tents. That the culprit who put up the Dark Mark was apprehended. Terry stiffly walked with his parents and, Corinna followed behind until she came to their tent. She reassured them that she wasn't that far from hers and continued until she reached her tent.

She did not like the scene before her. Mr. Crouch stood above Barty's bed, pointing his wand at him. Whatever happened seemed to have immobilized Barty as he was unconscious. Corinna looked around, but there was something missing.

"Where's Winky?"

Her normally pristine father was looking disheveled, probably for the first time in his life. His tie was askew, his shoes scuffed up. His normally pale complexion was now marred by angry red blotches on his face.

"She is no longer in my employ," Mr. Crouch said simply, and Corinna gave him a look of horror. That did not make any sense. Winky was basically family. She raised Corinna in a way that Mr. Crouch never would have. "And you left your brother. You should have taken him with you."

"I came back for him," Corinna defended, realizing her mistake much too late.

The red splotches seemed to grow darker, almost purple at this point. "What do you mean by 'came back for him?'"

"I was…I was just out with friends," Corinna managed to stammer out despite the fact that she just wanted to wilt away from Mr. Crouch's glare.

"You wanted this." Mr. Crouch spoke so low that Corinna had to strain to hear him. "You begged me to let your brother go to the match tonight. And this is how you repay me for figuring out how to make this work and to make sure it went off without a hitch. That—" He pointed outside the tent flap where the dark mark—albeit much dimmer now—graced the night sky, "—is all your fault. Me having to give clothes to Winky is all your fault. You don't even care that your brother got to see the match or not. You just wanted to excuse to see the match and then to run off with your little friends."

"That's not true," said Corinna as tears pooled in her eyes and clogged her throat, making it nearly impossible for her to speak. "None of that is true."

"Shut up and pack!" Mr. Crouch barked. "We're leaving tonight, and you will not see the light of day again until you leave for Hogwarts! Is that clear?"

Corinna opened her mouth, but no words came out. Instead, she simply nodded, unable to see past the tears pooling in her eyes.

The last few weeks of summer were some of Corinna's worse. At least before, she saw her brother and got to talk to him, even if the conversations were one-sided. Even Winky could be fun to talk with, and now that Corinna was older, she even enjoyed helping Winky with some of the chores.

That was all taken away in one night.

Barty had to stay in his room at all times. Mr. Crouch being the only one who could go in and out. He did not say another word to Corinna after that night, opting to glare at her whenever they were in the same room together. Because of this, she only left her room to use the washroom and for meals, which consisted of whatever she could scrounge up for herself.

It was just a few days before classes were to begin when she heard voices in the living room. She froze. Never before this did her father bring anyone home from work. Curious, Corinna stayed low on the floor and cracked her door open. The hallway was dark. The only light pouring up the stairs from the lower floor. Before leaving her room, she went back to her bedside table and grabbed her wand. She quietly crept out of her room and went to the top landing. She had to peer around the wall to see through the banister into the living room below.

A soundless scream tried to escape her throat when she saw a short, rodent like man pointing his wand at Mr. Crouch who was writhing in pain on the floor. Barty looked down at his father without remorse. Corinna could not see her brother's face, but his posture was rigidly straight, and he stood much taller than she had ever saw him. He stepped forward and knelt in front of the couch.

"I knew someday you would come back for me, my lord," said Barty, his voice clear and steady. Corinna never heard him speak in such a way, and she was terrified of him.

"You were always my most loyal, Crouch," a high, cold voice spoke from the couch. He was wrapped in blankets, obscuring his form from Corinna. "When I got word about what your dear father was doing to you, I had to intervene."

"I am at your service. Name it and I will do it."

"We will talk, but not yet," the voice said. "We have an unexpected guest."

Corinna froze in place as Barty turned his head and looked up at the landing. His eyes were clear as if they were never dull or clouded before, and his jaw was set in a tight line.

"I am not hurting her, my lord," he said firmly. "I don't care what we do with my father, but I am not hurting Corinna."

"I do not expect you to," the voice said slowly. "It would look suspicious if she does not return to Hogwarts. No one can know what we have planned. We won't have to control her as we will with your father here, but she cannot remember what happens tonight or any other night until she leaves on the first."

Barty seemed to know what that meant as he trudged up the stairs. She scrambled to stand and ran back into her bedroom. She did not even get a chance to lock her door before Barty barged into her room.

"Expelliarmus," she shouted, causing the wand to fly out of her brother's hand. She recognized it as Mr. Crouch's.

He casually glanced back at the wand that bounced against the wall. He sighed heavily. "I am not going to hurt you, Corinna. I could never hurt you." It seemed as if he wanted to say more, but his voice seemed to catch in his throat.

Corinna's mind was going a mile a minute as she stared at her wandless brother, a sight she was used to but now it terrified her. He casually picked up the wand again and, before Corinna could utter another jinx, he pointed his wand and muttered, "Imperio."

A calmness came over Corinna as she stared at her brother without seeing him.

"Now you are going to crawl back into bed," he said in a shaky voice. He wore a grimace that aged him significantly. "You are going to go back to sleep and, no matter what you hear, you will stay in bed until the sun rises."

Corinna easily followed the orders. After all, why wouldn't she? She turned out the cover and sheets and crawled in, her back to Barty.

As Corinna was on the verge of falling into a dreamless sleep, she could hear the word, "Obliviate." He made it so she would forget about this night and to forget that her own brother was a Death Eater.


	3. In Which the Champions are Chosen

September the first could not come soon enough. Not for the first time, Mr. Crouch was anxious about getting to the train on time. But there seemed to be another edge to it. An edge that Corinna could not explain.

He did not even say anything as they made their way onto the platform to the scarlet steam engine. The excitement for going back to Hogwarts had not waned since she was eleven years old. At fourteen, she was still full of wonder and excitement.

When Corinna looked back, he was already gone.

The journey from Platform Nine and Three Quarters was mostly uneventful for Corinna. She managed to get a compartment to herself for all of five minutes before a group of first years tentatively asked if they could join her. It brought her back to her first Hogwarts journey and she did not hesitate to say yes.

So, of course, they asked her a million and one questions about Hogwarts. She answered them to the best she could, but she left a few things up to mystery, such as how the sorting worked and whether or not a troll really lived in the dungeon.

It helped distract Corinna from the guilt that welled up inside her. She did not like abandoning her brother like that. It was easier when Winky was the one taking care of him, she at least was reassured he would be taken care of. With her now despondent father, she wasn't so sure.

As the sky steadily grew darker, they changed into their robes. Corinna frowned when she noticed the hem of hers was noticeably frayed. She had to order her schoolbooks and supplies by owl post since her father refused to take her to Diagon Alley and she dared not leave the house. She knew the way to the Leaky Cauldron, but she did not know how to navigate muggle London by herself as she would have to use the Underground. She would have to get fitted in Hogsmeade for some new school robes and the dress robes that were, for whatever reason, required for those fourth year and above.

They filed off the train and the first years broke away from Corinna to join Hagrid so they could make the journey by boat. Considering the heavy rain and violent winds, she was glad she did not have to go onto the boats and instead went to the horseless carriages, although it was still a very wet journey.

It was not until they were all shoving their way into the Great Hall when Terry spotted Corinna. That was another aspect that she felt guilty about. She was now going to have to explain some things to him. Things she definitely did not want to share.

"Made it alright?" Terry greeted easily as he went against the group of Ravenclaws heading to the opposite side of the hall.

"Yeah, thanks," Corinna mumbled as she stepped aside so someone could step around her. "How was the rest of your summer?" she asked, hoping to draw out the conversation so she did not have to discuss certain things while in the presence of so many others.

Terry seemed disappointed in that. It seemed he was all rearing to go to get some answers, but he bit them back. "Fine. My mum was worried about me going back, but I reassured her that it would be fine. We have Professor Dumbledore, after all."

Corinna nodded in agreement. "Yeah," she said. "They say there was nowhere safer when You-Know-Who was alive."

The professors were barking at the various students to take their seats, so Terry turned to back to Corinna. "I know you don't want to discuss certain things here." Maybe he was more self-aware than she had expected him to be, but she still did not like the sound of it. "So, let's meet up after classes tomorrow. Our usual spot in the library?"

"Of course," she said quickly. She went over to an open seat, trying not to think about how it was next to Harry, Ron, and Hermione.

Hermione pursed her lips when she saw Corinna, which she thought was odd since they usually got along amicably. It was important to do so when you shared a dorm room together with the only privacy allotted came when you pulled the curtains around the four-poster.

"How could your father do that to your house elf?" Hermione demanded, which caused a series of groans from both Harry and Ron. Although the malice was pointing at Mr. Crouch, the guilt stabbed Corinna in the gut.

"I can't control my father," said Corinna. "I wish he hadn't done that. She was like family. I don't even fully understand why he gave her clothes." Well, she had a few ideas, but she could not verbalize them.

Hermione did not seem to soften at the notion, so Harry stepped in to explain what happened the night that Corinna had abandoned her brother.

"I guess Winky had left the tent against his orders to stay," Harry explained.

"Which is complete rubbish since people were cursing muggles and she could have been hurt if she stayed put," Hermione interjected.

"Lay off it, Hermione," said Ron, looking annoyed.

"I will not! Winky deserved to be treated better. And do you actually believe that she put the mark there?"

Corinna's jaw slackened when she heard that. They thought Winky had put up the Dark Mark? How is that possible. She tried to think back, but her mind was drawing a blank. She remembered running back to the tent with Terry and, when no one else was there, following him to where his parents were hiding out.

"We know she probably had picked it up after someone took my wand to use it," said Harry. Corinna remembered sitting behind them at the World Cup, the wand sticking out of his pocket. But, certainly Winky would not have grabbed it, nor would Barty have. Then again, it was a rule to not have a wand near him in case he got a hold of it and hurt someone. Even so, Barty would not have put up the Dark Mark. He would not know how to, and that did not seem like a spell someone who was sick like him would have stumbled into.

It seemed that the three of them had forgotten that Corinna was even there as their conversation took a turn. She was fine with that. She was going to have a hard enough time talking about things with Terry...

After a few words from Dumbledore, the platters filled with food, the pitchers full of drinks, and the hall was filled with merriment once more. Corinna had lost her appetite. She put some shepherd's pie on her plate and pretended to be interested. Instead, she was focused on the staff table. Usually there was always one new face up there to fill the post of Defense Against the Dark Arts. Supposedly, the post was cursed somehow, which Corinna had doubted until they got a new teacher every year. The only one she really missed was Professor Lupin, but he could not keep teaching after it came out that he was a werewolf. Now where the new professor would usually sit, it was empty.

Once it seemed that most everyone was done eating and were more interested in conversing about various topics, Dumbledore stood once more to address the students. It seemed to be his usual speech about what was off limits and to whom, as well as addressing whatever it was Caretaker Filch decided was important that year to make students' lives even more miserable. She was surprised Professor Dumbledore did not even mention the Defense post, instead moving onto the fact that there would be no quidditch house cup this year. That caused a ripple of disdain, especially from those who were part of the house teams. She could feel Harry's annoyance and one of the Weasley twins complained loudly, but Corinna could not help but look across the hall at the Ravenclaw table where Cho looked like she was about to verbally object.

It seemed that Dumbledore was going to explain further, but a loud crash came from the doors to the Great Hall. Hundreds of heads turned to see a gruff looking man with bruises and scratches all over his face, but it was also marred by a large electric blue eye that seemed to take everything in at once. Corinna had not met the man in person, but she knew him by reputation. It was ex-Auror Alastor Moody. Many called him Mad-Eye, and not just for his magical eye. It seemed he was paranoid to the extreme. And when Dumbledore introduced him as Professor Moody, it made sense. There was probably no one wiser about the dark arts than the man who took on many of You-Know-Who's supporters during the wizarding war.

Once everyone had settled into the idea of their new Defense teacher, Dumbledore continued with his earlier statement. "The Triwizard Tournament," he explained. "It hadn't been held in nearly a century due to the dark nature of it all. But, with the help of our own departments of International Magical Cooperation and Magical Games and Sports—" Corinna could not help but perk up when she heard her father's department. Maybe this had been his other big assignment this summer. "—have decided the time is ripe for another attempt."

Everyone seemed to be abuzz about the idea that they could compete for glory—and a thousand galleon prize—until Dumbledore mentioned that only those of age could enter to compete. It did not bother Corinna as much. She was good with not having the spotlight on her, as much as the money would be great to have.

But it seemed everyone was still excited about what was happening at Hogwarts this year, as everywhere Corinna went as she made her way to the Gryffindor common room, people were talking about the tournament and those underage were trying to figure out ways they could trick the impartial judge into considering them for champion.

Corinna could hardly sleep that night as guilt and dread kept her mind occupied for most of the night. She thought about writing to her brother, but it was Winky who would read it to him, and Corinna didn't like the thought of her father reading what she wanted to say, if he would even read it in the first place. She did not even have the Christmas holidays to go home and check on him. Apparently, something was happening that would make many want to stay at Hogwarts over the break. Now, she supposed, it had something to do with the Triwizard Tournament.

They got their times tables at breakfast the next morning, and Corinna was slightly relieved that she didn't have a free period with the fourth year Ravenclaws today. It meant that she could push talking with Terry until that evening when they would meet in the library. That also meant, however, she was distracted all day during her classes, which was not a good sign as it seemed that all the professors were keen on already starting their studying towards the OWLs that they would be taking next year. That felt like an impossibly long time to Corinna.

Bogged down by the incredible amount of work that was already assigned, Corinna clambered to the small table in the corner of the library. She had beaten Terry there, but her final class of the day was not that far. She hunkered down with her Ancient Runes notes to work on the essay assigned for next class. But, much like she was in class, Corinna could not concentrate. She had a hard time deciphering even her own handwriting.

Terry came in a few minutes later, looking peeved. "Why did I have to stick with Divination? I should pull a Granger and just leave in the middle of class." Corinna always found it ironic that a term for dropping a class in a dramatic fashion was assigned to the one student no one would expect to do such a thing. "But maybe Ancient Runes isn't such a good alternative. There seems to be way too many non-English words for my taste."

Corinna cracked a smile as she closed her book, her unwritten essay marking her place. "It's alright," she mumbled. "But I'm glad I never bothered with that class." Not that she had much of a choice. Sure, Divination was not a solid branch of magic, and having a hooky teacher like Trelawney did not help matters. But with Corinna's luck, someone would somehow scry information about her brother, and she couldn't take that risk, so she stuck with Care of Magical Creatures and Ancient Runes—the former as she was interested in learning about creatures and the latter to appease her father. He had an odd affinity for languages, which is why he made such a good Head of the Department of International Magical Cooperation, and why he insisted on her having numerous tutors in various languages.

Terry made no move to unpack his school bag, opting instead to place it on the seat next to him. "I kind of expected an owl after what happened at the World Cup," he explained, jumping right to what he wanted to say last night before the feast. "My parents were worried and wanted to make sure you got back to your tent alright."

His tone implied that it was not just his parents that were worried, and a fresh bought of guilt rose up in Corinna. "I'm sorry," she said softly. "But my father grounded me for leaving the tent without his permission." It wasn't a complete fabrication. "He didn't let me have access to his owl or leave to go to the post office."

Terry seemed to soften at the explanation, but it seemed his own eyes were swimming with guilt. He was the one who invited Corinna out, after all, but she wanted to smack the look off him. How was he supposed to know that Corinna had to defy direct orders in order to finally have some fun? "It's alright," he said quickly. "I'll just send a quick letter to my parents. They were worried, after all."

Corinna nodded. "You mentioned that."

"Oh, right." When Terry made no move towards his bag, Corinna waited in the tense silence for him to finally ask. "Why did you never mention you have a brother?" he finally blurted out when he could no longer handle the tension himself.

Corinna involuntarily looked away from Terry, instead picking at the corner of her textbook. "I just…I never knew how to talk about him," she admitted. "He's very sick, you see. He has never been right in the head for as long as I have known him. I was supposed to help take care of him that night along with our house elf, but…but I wanted to take you up on that invitation, and since he was asleep I thought it would be all right." She let out a tense breath. "He's all right now since my father found him, but I shouldn't have left him in the first place. What if something were to happen to him?"

Terry did not say anything as he digested when Corinna was telling him. "I guess I can understand why you didn't say anything," he admitted after a pregnant pause. "It seems awfully complicated and messy. But, still, you could have said no. I would have understood."

"I didn't want to say no," said Corinna. She could have tried to convince herself she was noncommittal as to not outright hurt Terry's feelings, but she wanted to go. She wanted to be a normal teenager for once in her life. "I made my choice, Terry, and I had to suffer the consequences. Not that I regret going—" for the most part. "—I just have to be careful next time."

Corinna was thankful that it was time for them to head down to the great hall for supper. As they stood up, Terry reached over and grabbed her hand. "I understand why you wouldn't want to talk about your brother. Just know that I'm here for you if you do. I won't say anything to anyone else. I promise."

Corinna could not help but smile at the invitation. She simply doubted she would ever take him up on such an offer. "Thanks, Terry," she said softly. "For everything. I don't think too many people would run after me like you did. Are you sure you weren't supposed to be in Gryffindor?"

He snorted. "I'll leave the bravery to the likes of you." Corinna still doubted the sorting after all these years, but it was reassuring to hear Terry say something like that. "Come on. I need to get to the Hall before Ewan eats all the mash."

As Corinna followed Terry out of the library and down the many steps, she felt like she had finally made a friend here at Hogwarts.

The weeks seemed to go by quickly as the late summer warmth instantly faded to an autumn chill. But the cold winds hadn't dampened the excitement running through Hogwarts like a live current. Between the Triwizard Tournament and the amazing lessons that Moody was giving on the subject of Defense Against the Dark Arts, there was no shortage of eager whispers within the hallowed halls.

In fact, it seemed like Corinna was the only student who did not look forward to their Defense classes. She did not like the subject matter about the unforgivable curses. She did not like the fact that Moody was doing the Imperius curse on the students to see if they could resist doing silly things like cartwheels or ballet moves. Corinna was thankful that all Moody made her do was going up to the blackboard and print her name a few dozen times before he made her stop. She hated that feeling of having no control and being happy about it. She had an odd sense of déjà vu whenever it happened, as if she were under the curse and did not really remember the incident. She had a gut feeling that, if she were ever under such a curse, she would have remembered. It was something she would no sooner forget.

Corinna had spent the first Hogsmeade weekend before the other schools were to arrive with Terry. She was surprised to find out how much time they were spending together. She almost wished that she were put in Ravenclaw since they couldn't hang out past curfew. It was easy to talk with him about most any subject. She would talk about some of the light reading she liked to do to pass the time she wasn't doing schoolwork, or even about Potions. Terry had an extensive knowledge of various subjects, but his favorite was always quidditch, and he took every opportunity to try to convince Corinna how great of a sport it is. When that subject was exhausted, he was trying to pry information about the Tournament out of Corinna.

"I keep telling you," Corinna said, still miffed that Terry insisted on carrying her bags from the robe shop. "My father didn't even mention the Tournament to me. I found out just like the rest of you. Do you really expect he would have written to me about what the tasks will be or who this impartial judge is?" She glossed over the fact that he had not written a single letter, but that was not unusual, and Terry didn't need to know. "Trust me, I do not get special treatment just because I'm his daughter."

"I get it, I get it," Terry said quickly, but Corinna knew he would bring up the subject again.

The night before Halloween, the heads of houses were busy trying to get their houses to look and behave as they stood out in the bitter wind to await the students from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang. They were standing in their own houses, so Corinna was separated from Terry, but she saw him standing with his Ravenclaw friends. Corinna was surrounded by the other fourth years in Gryffindor, squished between Ron Weasley and Lavender Brown. McGonagall ordered her not to slouch so much, and for a moment she wondered if McGonagall had borrowed Moody's eye since she wondered how she could be seen past Ron.

Corinna also could not see when the Beauxbatons carriages arrived. All she could see was the tallest woman she had ever seen. Taller than even Hagrid. She towered over everyone, but she held herself in a way that made it seem that her height was all planned out. Just a few minutes later, according to those who could see, a ship had risen out of the Black Lake, signaling that Durmstrang had arrived.

They were then ordered to go into the Great Hall for the feast and Terry eagerly broke away from the Ravenclaws to rush over to Corinna. "Did you see?" he asked excitedly.

"What was I supposed to see?" Corinna asked. "Weasley blocked my view."

"Viktor Krum," Terry said, barely waiting for Corinna to finish her statement. It also took Corinna a moment to remember who Viktor Krum was. She tried to think as little as possible about the World Cup. "He goes to Durmstrang. Blimey, I knew he was young, but I didn't think he was still in school."

Corinna now understood why it seemed every girl in her immediate facility was all giggly and aflutter.

As they entered the Great Hall, Corinna looked up at the staff table and froze. She expected extra spots to be added for the heads of Beauxbatons and Durmstrang, but she did not expect to see the Head of Magical Games and Sports, Ludo Bagman, sitting next to her father.

Terry doubled back when he noticed Corinna wasn't with him, and one look up at the staff table explained why. "He didn't even tell you he was coming."

"No," Corinna mumbled, her entire body suddenly growing cold. She should not have been surprised that he was here. He helped organize this whole thing along with Bagman. She was glad he seemed to be interested in talking with the others already seated at the table, not that she would have expected Mr. Crouch to find her in the se of other students were black robes and black hats. She would not have even expected him to look for her.

They had to break apart anyway to go to their respective tables. Corinna never took her eyes off Mr. Crouch, which was unfortunately since she had nearly run over a second year in the process. She found a seat as far away from the staff table as she could manage but was still in view of her father. She couldn't fully comprehend all the conflicting emotions that were boiling inside her. All she really knew was that she had to try to get her father alone so she could ask how her brother was.

After a short speech from Dumbledore introducing the heads of the foreign schools, as well as Bagman and Mr. Crouch (for which Corinna was thankful that no one seemed to cheer on her father as much as they had with Bagman; that ought to muss his mustache), food appeared on the platters and everyone immediately started digging in. Corinna shoveled some food onto her plate at random, finally tearing her gaze from the staff table and looked over at the Ravenclaw table. Her heart sank when she saw Terry talking with one of the most beautiful girls she had ever seen. She wore the light blue robes of a Beauxbatons student, and it made her blood boil. She did not understand why she was suddenly angry at Terry when she could not even understand her emotions when it came to her father. She did not like how he laughed at whatever she was saying, or how she swept her hair back as if purposefully charming the boys around her.

If she wasn't hungry before, she was downright nauseous now.

Corinna did not even bother to pretend to eat the food that was on her plate before it disappeared. Much to her chagrin, Mr. Crouch stood up and walked over to the podium that Dumbledore stood at whenever he needed to address the students. Although his voice was as dull and droning as always, it felt like nails on a chalkboard to Corinna. With a clenched jaw and fingernails digging into the palms of her hands, she listened to her father explain who—or rather, what—was going to decide who would be the three champions. They unveiled the Goblet of Fire. The blue fire would accept a name and school written on a piece of paper and would reveal the chosen three tomorrow night after the Halloween Feast. He mentioned, of course, an age line being put in place to discourage those who were not of age from entering.

With that, they were dismissed back to their dormitories. Corinna was one of the first ones up from the various benches as she pushed her way to the front of the hall, only to see her father disappear down the hall and towards the basement. She thought about following after him, but McGonagall was ushering her back to the Gryffindor crowd, reminding her not to embarrass their school in front of their foreign guests.

It was easy for Corinna to go down early to the Great Hall for breakfast the next morning since she hardly slept. She saw Bagman talking animatedly with Madam Hooch, but she did not see Mr. Crouch anywhere. She had a sick feeling that he was purposefully avoiding her.

She managed to swallow down some toast as she could see Terry watching her with concern. Since the extremely beautiful girl wasn't around him anymore, he was now paying attention to Corinna again. She tried to muster up some sort of annoyance, but she was too exhausted to feel anything.

As there weren't any classes that day, Corinna had a hard time distracting herself hanging out with Terry and some of his other friends. They all accepted her into the group, but she still did not really feel like she was a part of it. She only said anything if she were addressed first, and it was almost exclusively by Terry, unless it was a snide remark about Gryffindor to see if it would get a rise out of her.

"So, who from your house is putting their name in?" Zacharias asked Corinna as they lounged around the library. Although Pince was going around trying to get the students to settle down and not talk, it was to no avail. No one was really interested in studying today. "Besides, you know, the Weasley twins. They look pretty good with the gray beards."

"I know Angelina put her name in," said Corinna, "but that's all I heard."

Zacharias snorted. "Well, good luck with that. Cedric Diggory is putting his name in."

"And what? Ruin his pretty face?" Although she didn't have distaste for Diggory like the rest of the Gryffindors did since he caught the snitch before Harry Potter did in the first match last year, she still liked taking the piss out of Zacharias whenever she could manage.

"Yeah, well, I think it's about time Hufflepuffs get the recognition we deserve," Zacharias muttered. "Gryffindors need to get knocked down a peg or two."

Corinna could not have agreed more, not that she would ever admit that to Zacharias.

At lunch, Corinna wanted to try and find her father, but it seemed that they were busy making sure things were ready for tonight's ceremonies. He was busy trying to go over things with an uninterested Bagman, which was making him irate. Corinna definitely did not want to talk with him when he was like that.

So, it was an agonizing afternoon of listening to Terry's friends talk about the tournament. Corinna thought they would have exhausted the subject by now, but it seemed that the people around them were giving constant updates on who was entering.

Corinna couldn't tell if it was much too soon or not soon enough that they went back into the Hall for yet another feast. It almost seemed like too much, not that Corinna could stomach anything besides the toast earlier. She was not the only one who wasn't eating much. There was too much excitement and anxiety around the hall. Sooner than what was usual for the Halloween Feast (except for her first year), the platters cleared, and everyone turned to focus on the staff table. She focused on Mr. Crouch, who kept an eye on Dumbledore as he gave a short speech before announcing that the Goblet of Fire was almost ready to pick the champions.

First was Viktor Krum from Durmstrang, which was no surprise to anyone. If he was half as good at the tasks as he was a seeker, he was going to be a force to be reckoned with.

Second was the beautiful girl that was flirting with Terry the night before, Fleur Delacour, for Beauxbatons. It seemed that every boys' (and a few girls') eyes were on her as she gracefully walked up to the staff table and disappeared to the door leading to the basement.

Every Hogwarts student waited with bated breath for the Goblet of Fire to release the name of the Hogwarts champion. Not a moment too soon, the flames erupted, and a piece of paper fluttered out. Dumbledore caught it with nimble fingers and looked at the name. "The Hogwarts' Champion," he said in a loud, clear voice, "is Cedric Diggory."

Cheers boomed from the Hufflepuff table as the admittedly handsome Cedric Diggory made his way to the other champions. Corinna was eager for this to be over to see if she could sneak up to her father when the flames erupted once more, releasing another name from the fire. But that was impossible. The three champions have already been chosen.

Dumbledore did not miss a beat as he grabbed the piece of paper from the air. A pin drop could echo off the walls it was so quiet in the hall. Considering the previous years' track record, it really should not have come to a surprise to anyone when Dumbledore looked over at the Gryffindor table and announced, "Harry Potter."

Harry was seated just a few students down from Corinna, so she could see all the color draining from his face and every eye in the entire hall landing on him. She had never felt so sorry for someone. It was evident that all he wanted to do was shrink away into nothing at that moment. But Dumbledore was beckoning for him to join the champions.

He looked like he was going to be sick as he approached the staff table, and it did not help that the jeers were starting for all over the hall as people objected for a myriad of reasons. Corinna looked over at Mr. Crouch, but his face was unreadable.

Once Harry disappeared down to the basement, the heads of houses were immediately ushering the students out of the hall. What was supposed to be a jovial affair was now muted and tense. She spotted Terry as the Gryffindors followed the Ravenclaws up the stairs. He gave Corinna a quizzical look and all she could do was shrug. She did not know how Hogwarts got two champions or why the second one was, not only a Gryffindor, but Harry Potter to boot.

Speaking of, the Gryffindors should have been happy about the fact that there was a champion (if Harry was even going to be allowed to compete), but it was very tense in the usually cozy common room. She looked out for Ron and Hermione, but they both seemed to have disappeared. She spotted Fred and George talking by the fire, loudly wondering how Harry had gotten past the age line and why he had not shared his secret.

But the look Harry gave haunted Corinna's mind, it was still burned in her retinas. That was not the look of someone who put their name in the cup voluntarily.

Corinna found Hermione pacing the fourth-year girl's dormitory, muttering under her breath. It was a typical habit that happened with her during exams, but it never happened this early in the year. She whipped around when she noticed she was no longer alone. "What's going to happen?" she asked in a small voice.

Corinna did not know if she was asking as a rhetorical question or because of who her father was, but she did not have the answer either way. "I wish I knew," she admitted. "But there's no way he's going to compete. Dumbledore would have a cow."

But the next morning, Corinna would be wondering if the calf was a boy or a girl as it was confirmed that, due to the magic surrounding the Goblet of Fire, Harry Potter was going to have to compete as the fourth champion.


	4. In Which the Yule Ball Occurs

If Corinna thought that talk of the Triwizard Tournament was bad before, it was about it get much, much worse. It was all anyone would ever talk about, and it seemed that everyone believed that Harry somehow did this on purpose and rumors were flying around just how he did it, each hypothesis more ridiculous than the last. The jeers from his classmates were enough to grate on Corinna's nerves. Was everyone so blind to the fact that he looked downright terrified about this whole thing?

But what was surprising about this whole thing was that Harry's best mate, Ron Weasley, was not even talking to him. Corinna saw him mostly hanging out in the library with Hermione Granger. Whenever Terry glared in their direction, she would kick him under the table.

"Oi, what was that for?" he demanded after one swift knock in the shins. "Can you blame me? He's not even supposed to be champion, so he's pulling the brooding hero card."

That earned him another knock. "Would you shut up? Does that look like a brooding hero? He didn't ask for any of this."

"You're just defending him because he's in your house."

Corinna rolled her eyes so hard they stung. "You know I don't give a damn about house loyalty."

"What about those things you say to Zach?"

"I only say that because it gets under his skin," she defended. She shoved her potions essay aside. "What is with you anyway? If I remember correctly, you were also trying to find a way to put your name in."

"It's one thing to talk about it, it's a completely different sort of creature to have actually done it."

"He didn't," Corinna hissed. "Only a powerful wizard could have bewitched the Goblet to give up two names to Hogwarts like that. I don't know about you, but I don't remember learning such a thing in charms."

"How do you know?" Terry asked. "Did you talk to your father about it?"

"Heavens no," Corinna said. She did not get a single chance to talk to her father before he left the Sunday after the fiasco. "I overheard Harry telling Hermione about it. I guess Moody went to bat for him."

"So, I guess you won't be able to find out about the first task for him. I'm kidding," he added before Corinna could disagree with him. "If you did know, you would also tell Diggory. It's only fair, right?"

"Yeah," she muttered. "But I don't, and I'm not about to ask."

"You've got to be at least curious."

"Who isn't?" Corinna may be sick of everyone talking about it, but she even had to admit she would like to know what was going to happen. Then again, she was not one for surprises. She liked things to be predictable. "Now, we better actually do our work before Pince kicks us out of the library."

It was a cold November morning when the entire castle made their way to the grounds for the first task. It seemed that they really wanted it to be a surprise, because there was not so much as a hint as to what the champions were going to do.

She sat with Terry and his friends, and she scowled at how many of them were waving banners supporting Diggory. Well, she would be fine with that, if they weren't also dragging Harry's name through the mud in various ways. Zacharias, who was sporting a "Potter Stinks" button that Malfoy was passing around, had also mentioned how Diggory was the real Hogwarts champion on his banner.

"Hope your champion knows what he's doing," Zacharias hissed in Corinna's ear and it took every ounce of self-control not to turn around and smack him. "Would hate for him to get another scar on his pretty face."

"Would you leave Corinna alone," said Terry forcefully. "We've had enough of it."

Corinna was about to argue that Terry did not need to defend her when Zacharias simply laughed. "Don't tell me she has you whipped to the point you are supporting Potter, Boot. I thought you had more balls than that."

Terry turned bright red and Corinna was thankful that the sound of a cannon brought all conversation to a halt. From the judges stand, Mr. Crouch stood and placed his wand against the side of his throat. She had not seen him at the Great Hall this morning with Ludo Bagman, but she figured he had to be here. She just hoped that, after the task, she would be able to corner him before he could disappear again.

It was then that he announced what the first task would be. Dragons. The champions had to get past the dragon that was randomly selected for them to get a golden egg from the nest. If they succeed, they will have a clue for the next task.

"I thought this was supposed to be safer," Corinna muttered as the dragon keepers were bringing a cage in with a very irate dragon inside. "What in the name of Merlin is safe about dragons?"

"I'm sure Dumbledore wouldn't agree to this unless he was absolutely sure that no one was going to be killed," Terry said, but he didn't seem so sure as the dragon roared and shot out a stream of white hot fire. "Serious injured is definitely a possibility, though."

"Don't tell me you're worried about Potter."

"I swear, Smith, if you say one more thing about this, I will personally throw you into the dragon pit."

Zacharias looked like he had a few more choice words to say on the subject, but the cheers around them caused a distraction as Diggory came out from the champion's tent, looking as pale as the canvas.

Corinna could hardly stand to watch as the champions each faced their dragons. Although there were a few close calls and a few burned articles of clothing, each one had managed to grab the egg containing the clue. She felt like she was going to be sick when the biggest and meanest dragon was dragged out. The one that Harry Potter was going to have to face.

She could barely look between he fingers where she tried to hide her eyes, but the sounds made it seem much worse. Harry had summoned his Firebolt and was flying around the dragon to avoid the deadly fire and even deadlier claws. She cheered with many of the others in the stands when he had grabbed the golden egg in a faster time than the other champions.

"What was that, Smith?" Corinna could not help but goad. "What was that about Potter."

He ripped the "Potter Stinks" button from his jacket and threw it on the ground.

The Gryffindor common room was a loud affair that evening with everyone, even the doubters and naysayers, were celebrating Harry's victory. Corinna even accepted the butterbeer someone had shoved into her hands and decided against wondering where they were pilfered from. Corinna was relieved and, honestly, quite excited for what was to come. She had even forgotten that she needed to talk to Mr. Crouch about her brother.

Once the first task was finished, Corinna figured everyone would immediately jump into talking about the second task. Instead, it seemed that there was going to be a bit of an interlude between tasks as the reason why fourth years and above were going to need dress robes came to light.

The Yule Ball was to take place on Christmas Day in the Great Hall, and Corinna did not like the tonal shift across the whole castle. Instead of everyone looking forward to some sort of battle or the prospect of a game, it was all about who was going to the ball with whom, and who was wearing what.

Corinna now sneered at the color she picked for her dress robes. They were a pale gold, and the attendant at the robe shop thought that the color looked good on her, noting how it brought out the gold specks in Corinna's otherwise azure eyes. Now it seemed gaudy to wear such a thing.

Then there was the task of having to find a date. According to Lavender Brown, a girl she shared a dorm with, only losers were going to go stag. She secretly hinted that she was talking about Corinna, but she bit her tongue since she could have easily pointed out that her best friend, Parvati Patil, did not have a date as of late.

And, to be honest, Corinna did not even know if she wanted to go. She had thought about going to McGonagall and seeing if she could join the younger students to journey back to London on the Hogwarts Express. She was annoyed with herself for getting swept up in the moment and not going to go find her father. Now, she was going to have to check on her brother herself. She did not care about some stupid dance.

But she was intercepted as she was about to go to Transfigurations early just before the end of term. Terry was rushing down the hall, his face ruddy from the strain. "There you are," he said. "I was looking for you."

"Why?" Corinna asked. They always seemed to meet up at the library after classes and hung out until curfew.

"Because I need to do something before I lose the nerve," Terry admitted. It slowly dawned on Corinna that his shaky hands may not have been solely from running. "Corinna Crouch, will you go to the Yule Ball with me?"

Corinna waited a breath, mentally freaking out. She felt like she was back at the campground with a decision to make. She had to decide if she wanted to have a friend or make sure her brother was okay.

"I'm sorry," Corinna said when she realized she had not answered, and Terry looked like he was going to explode. "But, I have to go home. I need to make sure my brother is okay."

Terry seemed to drink that information in and nodded. "Sure, you could do that," he said with a shrug. "Or, you could stay and ask your father. I'm certain he's going to be at the ball since he put together this whole thing."

Corinna somehow doubted it, but Terry did have a point. He would go solely to save face.

"And, listen, I'm sorry if I am overstepping, but I'm concerned," Terry continued. "Your brother isn't your sole responsibility. You are allowed to have a life outside of him."

Again, Corinna had to agree with Terry. The Yule Ball did not come around very often. She let out a tense breath. "As long as you aren't asking me out of pity," she said.

"Merlin no," Terry said quickly. "I've been wanting to ask you since the ball was announced. I just never got up the nerve."

Corinna tried to think back to their last few hang outs. Terry did not seem nervous. Maybe quieter than usual. That may be how he shows it.

"Then yes," Corinna said before she could mentally convince herself otherwise. "Yes, Terrance Boot, I will go to the Yule Ball with you."

A goofy grin broke out across his face. "Great, great, awesome," he said in quick succession. "I'll see you then. I mean, I'm sure we will see each other before then, but…you know what I mean."

"'Course I do," Corinna said with an amused smile. She went into the Transfigurations classroom with a light heart, trying to ignore the guilt wanting to deteriorate her happiness.

Corinna never thought she would be one of those girls who cared about her looks, but now that seemed to be the only thing she could focus on the day of the Yule Ball. She did not even let the fact that she did not receive any presents from Mr. Crouch bring her down. She was too busy deciding how she was going to do her hair.

Her hair was something she never really liked. Growing up, her hair was fair, but now it looked more like the color of dishwater. It also didn't help that it was thin and wispy, and the only thing she ever did with it was throw it into a plait so it stayed contained. But, now, she wanted to do something with it. What, exactly, she had no idea.

It seemed that Hermione had the opposite problem as she was trying to sleek down her unruly curls. If they could trade hair for the evening, it would make both of them happy. Corinna had borrowed Lavender's set of curlers and she was attempting to curl her hair in the way that the guide in Witch Weekly had shown. Even though Corinna had followed the instructions more closely than she might have a potion, the ends looked bent and the top of her hair was still pin straight.

"Here," Hermione said, tossing Corinna an odd-looking potion. "Put that in your hair before you curl it. It should actually hold."

Corinna looked relieved. "Thanks," she said as she did as instructed. The second attempt went much better, and she had the large curls that the picture said she would. Now she just can't touch it for the rest of the evening.

As eight o'clock approach at an alarming rate, Corinna slipped into her dress robe. She kept everything else simple since she did not have the time nor the patience to do up everything. She just made sure to put in the diamond studs that used to be her mother's.

Corinna felt like she had been struck by a stunner as she followed the crowd out of Gryffindor Tower and made their way down to the entrance hall. Many people will milling around looking for their dates when Corinna spotted Terry sporting midnight blue dress robes. He glanced up as Corinna stepped down the flight up stairs and his face lit up. Her heart seemed to give a little hiccough as she stopped in front of him.

"Wow," Terry said breathlessly as he looked Corinna over. "I knew what your robes would be, but it's nothing compared to you in them."

She felt heat rising to her cheeks. "Thanks," she mumbled and cleared her throat. "You look nice as well."

"Thanks," Terry stammered as he offered Corinna his arm. She easily took it and they made their way towards the Great Hall, which was transformed into a winter wonderland with evergreens and never-melt-snow falling from the ceiling and leaving piles along the edges. The long tables were gone, save for the staff table, and were instead replaced by smaller, circular tables that could hold eight. Terry lead them over to a table that had some of their friends at it already. Even Zacharias decided to behave himself tonight, but that mostly looked like Mandy was not going to let him be anything but serious.

The hall slowly filled in with people, and Corinna kept looking around for Mr. Crouch. After a few sweeps, Terry grabbed Corinna's hand. "He'll be here," he whispered in her ear. "He'll be here, and you'll get your chance to talk to him."

Corinna nodded and she resisted the urge to constantly look around. Soon, there were only a few seats left and she noticed Ron and Padma looking around for a spot. Since they had a couple of seats left at their table, she got their attention and Ron grudgingly joined them, sneering at Zacharias as he did so. It seemed that Corinna was not the only Gryffindor he annoyed.

"I was looking for Hermione," Ron said, which Padma did not look happy about. "She claims to have a date and I want to see what the poor bloke is. Probably doesn't even exist."

Right then, the champions along with their dates were filing into the hall to a round of applause, and Ron's question was answered in what appeared to be an almost physical blow. Hermione Granger with slicked back hair and wearing simple yet complimentary make up, was walking arm and arm with Viktor Krum.

Ron looked like he was going to have a fit, and any other moment, she would have found it entertaining. However, with everyone seated, with the heads and judges joining the champions, Corinna's heart sank when she realized her father was not there. Instead, it seemed that his assistant, Percy Weasley, fresh from graduation just this past year, was seated next to Harry.

Her father should be here. One of the reasons why she did not rush home at the end of term was so she could see him.

"Corinna, we should order," Terry said. Around them, others were looking over the menu and then speaking into their plates where the food would magically appear on the plates. She opted for a lighter pasta dish, knowing that was all she was going to be able to swallow.

Back up at the head table, she saw Percy talking animatedly with Harry while Parvati talked with Hermione and Cho. Ron's ears had gone as red as his hair as he watched them, barely touching his own food in the process.

Corinna just listened to the idle chatter around her and she forced forkfuls of food down her throat. She relaxed a bit once the food and plates magically cleared away, but then the music started picking up and the tables were whisked away to reveal a dancefloor. Terry took her by the hand and led her to the middle of the floor where she woodenly followed along as they mostly swayed to the rhythm. Now that they were much closer, Corinna could feel Terry's sporadic heartbeat against her own. As they both got more into it, Corinna let her worries melt away. She did not think about Mr. Crouch or Barty or Winky or anyone else. She just lost herself in dancing with Terry.

After a while, Terry broke away and offered to go get them some drinks. Corinna agreed and made sure Terry was retreating before going over to one of the side tables by the doors. Percy was talking with Flitwick about his work at the ministry. "Ah, Corinna," he greeted, which surprised her. At school, she didn't think anyone but professors and Penelope Clearwater existed to him. "I was about to come find you."

Flitwick took that as an invitation to finally get away from Percy and went over to talk with some of those from his house. Corinna sat down in the seat that Flitwick vacated. "What's going on?" she asked, looking worried.

"I don't know what your father has said in your correspondence." Corinna wanted to snort, but kept it civil. "But as you may know, he has been ill and has asked me to fill in for him tonight to show that our department is still committed to the tournament." She was silent as she absorbed what Percy was saying, and he took that as an invitation to continue. "He also mentioned that he looked forward to seeing you for the second task."

Corinna bit her lip and debated whether she wanted to laugh or cry. "Thanks," she said tersely. She was glad that another professor had came up to Percy as she was able to take her leave without saying anything else. Since she noticed Terry still in line for drinks, she quickly ran off to the bathroom as guilt threatened to explode through her chest.

She leaned against the sink as she tried to regain control of her nerves. She felt so lost and confused at that moment, she did not know what to think of everything. All she knew was that she wanted to break down and she couldn't. She couldn't because she did not want to let Terry down and she had left enough people down in her life as it is.

With a shaky sigh, she splashed some cold water on her cheeks to help reduce how red and blotchy they were. The mascara-stained tears were easy enough to wipe away and it did not seem to have done too much damage to her made up face. But she knew she had lost the moment of beauty when she first put it on and believed that things would go well for her tonight.

"Corinna?" A fifth year Hufflepuff had popped her head into the bathroom. "I'm sorry, but Terry is looking for you. I can tell him if you need another minute."

"No, no," Corinna said quickly as she grabbed a towel to pat dry her face. "I'm fine."

She did not look so convinced. "I can tell him you had some bad food if you need to leave."

"No," Corinna said, but appreciated what this nameless fifth year was willing to do for her. "But, thanks. It's not about him, I promise."

"Alright," she said as she stepped aside so Corinna could leave. "Just say the word and I'll kick his arse if he hurts you."

Corinna was glad to laugh at something. She slipped out of the bathroom and made her way back over to Terry, promising herself she would send a letter to her father in the morning to deal with this mess.

Even though she did not make it back to her dormitory until the early dregs of the morning, Corinna found herself up right at dawn. She penned a letter that she thought sounded much too forward and bossy, but she needed to be. She had gone months without answers, and it was about damn time she did something about that.

Once she sent the letter using one of the Hogwarts owls, she watched the owl post come in each morning to no avail. The owl she had sent never arrived, nor had her father's own. Owls never fail to deliver post, unless they were intercepted or killed. The day before break was set to end, Corinna decided to check the Owlery. Sure enough, the barn owl she had borrowed was there, looking annoyed to have been woken up when Corinna had nothing to send.

There was also the problem of Terry Boot. He was a good friend to Corinna, and she had a brilliant time during the Yule Ball, sans the chat with Percy and the subsequent waterworks. But now, it seems, without much warning for Corinna, they were dating. Sure, according to many sources, some already believed they were dating, but it was a completely different matter when it was suddenly happening.

The dynamic didn't seem to shift much, but it was the little things that Corinna had noticed, like how Terry now sat on the same side of the library table, or how he would hold her hand as often as possible.

Corinna loathed it, but she did not know how to end things without ruining their friendship. So, if she had to snog with him in an abandoned hallway just so she had something she could talk to about her family, she will do it.

But as winter continued to rear its ugly head, she had not received a letter from her father. She had thought about sending another one, but it was only a week until the second task. She would see him at the judge's table, he will be well, and Corinna will finally talk to him about Barty.

The week turned out to be one of Corinna's longest. Between homework getting piled on, inability to sleep, and the fact that she could not stay awake during classes was just a recipe for disaster. By the day before the task, Corinna was a nervous wreck.

And it seemed that she was not the only one. Harry seemed to be on edge as well, and she chalked it up to nerves over the next task. Corinna fully understood the scope of his predicament when she was studying with Terry in the library. Well, she was trying to study while he wanted to do other things. But she noticed Harry, Ron, and Hermione crowding around a table with stacks and stacks of books, none of which seemed to pertain to the subjects they were currently learning.

"Maybe he hadn't figured out the clue," Terry said when he noticed how Corinna was distracted. "Poor bloke. I heard that Diggory had figured it out ages ago."

"Well, he also has three more years of schooling than Harry," Corinna pointed out, unable to stop herself from being short with Terry.

"I was just saying," Terry muttered. "Besides, with Granger, the playing field is level."

That was, until they saw McGonagall approach the trio. In some hushed voices so Corinna and Terry could not decipher what was being said, she had ushered a confused Ron and Hermione away from Harry.

"Do you think there's some rule that they broke?" Terry asked.

Corinna shook her head. "I don't think so. There's rules against the heads of the schools from helping their students, but nothing against friends helping them." When it seemed like Harry was just wildly reading from textbook to textbook, she turned back to Terry. "Why don't we go help him. We aren't getting very far with our homework." She did not mention it was because he kept creeping his hand up her thigh.

"I don't know," Terry said hesitantly.

"What do you mean you don't know?" Corinna asked, glaring at him.

"Potter's the champion. He was chosen, so it is obvious he should be able to figure these things out on his own. It would only be fair."

"Fair?" Corinna repeated, trying not to look disgusted. "Fairness went out the damn window the moment his name came out of the cup for Merlin knows why. I'm not telling you what to do, but I'm going to see if Harry wants my help. You can either join me or not."

Corinna did not give Terry a chance to reply as she slammed her book shut and grabbed her bag. She made her way to Harry's table. "Do you need any help?" she asked him without preamble.

Harry took a moment to stare at Corinna. He looked as tired as she felt. "Honestly? Yeah. I need to find a way to breathe underwater for an hour. Do you know anything that could help with that?"

Corinna shook her head. "No, but I can help you look." She picked up one of the books at random and tried to ignore the stab or annoyance with Terry as he had packed up his things and scurried out of the library.

Harry gave Corinna a quizzical look at Terry's behavior. "Don't ask. We have to find a way to prevent you from drowning."

"I'm sure Ron and Hermione will be back," said Harry, but even he did not seem certain.

"And then we'll have a few extra sets of eyes," Corinna muttered, desperately trying not to think about Terry. "Besides, I could use the distraction."

Harry left it at that as they both went right to work. It seemed like they had gone through most of the books in the library by the time Madam Pince kicked them out well after curfew. They loaded their arms with as many books as they could carry and took it back to the common room. There were only a few people hanging around, and they left Harry and Corinna be. They took up refuge in the back corner where no one could really see them, and they went back to work.

It was the wee hours of the morning when Corinna seemed to pass out, leaning on a large stack of textbooks. A crack startled her awake and she winced from the bright light, wondering when someone had turned on the sun.

It was a house elf and, even though he looked nothing like Winky, her addled mind immediately thought he was.

"Weezy," the house elf was telling a tired Harry as he fought to keep his eyes open. "Harry Potter must save his Weezy."

"What the hell is a Weezy?" Corinna asked as she unstuck her arm from a page about Saharan plants and their uses. She happened to glance at her watch, and she was instantly awake. "Merlin's beard! Harry, Harry! We have fifteen minutes to get you down to the lake."

"But I haven't got nothing," Harry barely managed to say around a yawn as the two of them scrambled to stand up. "I can't hold my breath for an hour."

"That's why Dobby bring you this," the house elf held out a clump of what looked like seaweed. "Gillyweed, sir. You take it and you save Weezy."

They still had not figured out what a Weezy was, but they hadn't the time. They ran down the numerous flights of stairs, dodging all the trick steps as they went. They rushed passed a group of stragglers, and Corinna realized about halfway down the grounds towards the docks that she was rather out of shape. A stitch in her side caused her breathing to hitch, but she kept pushing herself to keep up with Harry.

They did not slow until they met up with the crowd. Ludo Bagman interjected about how Harry was cutting it close as he ushered him towards the other champions. Corinna leaned against the nearest post, breathing heavily, and trying not to pass out.

Once Corinna had managed to slow her breathing, she joined the judges who were milling around on the main dock instead of going up to where the students were sitting. No one really paid her any mind as she kept towards the back, looking around for Mr. Crouch. When she spotted Percy standing around with Bagman, she knew that he would not be there, and she was going to pass out all over again.

She did not know what to do at this point. She could try to send another owl, but she did not expect another reply. She could not outright ask Percy what her father was sick with. He might start asking too many questions.

Since she was on the edge of the group, Corinna started to move off the dock when a cold voice stopped her. "And where do you think you're going, Miss Crouch?"

She swallowed thickly as she turned to face Moody. He gripped his staff tightly as his eye seemed to look her over. "I'm not feeling well," she admitted. "I'm just going to go back to my dorm and lay down."

"Aren't you the least bit curious as to how Potter is going to do?"

"Of course," Corinna said, wanting nothing more than to just walk away from the conversation. "But I'm sure he will do well and will understand."

Corinna did not like the look Moody was giving her, especially since she couldn't even get a read on it. It also did not help that she couldn't focus. "Can I give you a word of advice?" When she did not say anything, he continued. "Be careful on who you trust. You never know who is going to stab you in the back."

Corinna may be young, but she thought it would be rather silly to take advice from a man who would only drink from his own hip flask. She just walked away and made her way to the castle. She did not bother going inside, opting to sit on the entrance steps as she let the February wind bite through her. It helped a little, and she did not move until she saw a mass of people heading towards the castle, so she stood up and made her way to her dorm.

She stayed in her dorm room while all the other Gryffindors were keen on celebrating. From what she could gather, Harry had done well enough that him and Diggory were tied for first place. It seemed like a good sign that someone from Hogwarts was going to win, at least.

What Corinna did not expect was to suddenly be tackled into a hug by Hermione Granger when she entered the room. "Thank you," she said, almost desperately. "Thank you for helping Harry when Ron and I were taken for the task."

It was another thing Corinna had to figure out through context clues since she did not stick around until the end. "I didn't help him though. Some house elf named Dobby did."

"Still, you tried," Hermione reminded. "He said you stayed with him all night."

"Well, I wasn't going to let him fail," Corinna added with a shrug. "Besides, it was only fair."

"You should come down and celebrate," Hermione said. "I know Harry would want to thank you for your help."

Why were these people so keen on thanking me for something I didn't even help with? Corinna asked herself. "I'd rather not, I'm not really in the mood to celebrate."

"Why not?"

Corinna bit her lip. "I got some bad news today. I don't really want to talk about it."

Hermione seemed to finally get the hint and left the dormitory.

Corinna stayed there until Monday morning, where it was either go to class or explain to Madam Pomfrey what was wrong with her. Neither of them sounded pleasant, so she opted for the lesser of the two evils.

But she forgot that meant having to deal with Terry in the Great Hall.

"Where have you been?" Terry asked. "I've been worried."

Corinna debated how long she could go back and lay in her dorm room until someone noticed. "I'm not doing great, okay?" Corinna said bluntly, not caring about her tone. "My dad wasn't at the task and he never replied to my owl. So, please, I just need some space right now."

"Wait, Corinna!" Terry called out when she turned sharply and headed for her first class instead.

It was hard to believe the time that went on. Terry refused to even look at her during meals, and she hadn't been by their spot in the library. She supposed it was no longer their spot.

Even with the weather growing steadily warmer and the sky a pleasant blue, Corinna stayed inside. She was either in class, the Great Hall, or in her dormitory. The days all seemed to bleed together until one day, out of what seemed like the blue, Hermione joined Corinna in the girl's dormitory. It seemed like she had purposefully chosen a time when Lavender and Parvati were gone.

"I just wanted to ask you if things were okay with your family?" Hermione asked after their usual awkward exchanges. "I mean, your father hasn't shown up since the second task."

Corinna wondered for a moment if Terry had asked her to do this, but that did not make much sense. Terry was never chummy with Hermione. Corinna should have figured the "insufferable know-it-all" as Snape called her last year would have caught on if other students hadn't.

The problem being how honest Corinna should be with Hermione. "He just said that he's been sick and is doing what he can from home while he recovers," she said with a slight shrug. "He's sending that Percy Weasley bloke to be the judge and basically made him his liaison." She tried not to show how much it hurt that he had time to write to some assistant he's only had for a few months, but couldn't so much as reply to his own daughter.

Hermione looked like she wanted to ask more, but she hesitated for just a moment. "What is he sick with? Is it serious?"

Corinna glanced away from Hermione as she closed the book she was reading. "He's not making it sound like it is."

"But you're not convinced," Hermione said, finishing what Corinna wanted to leave unsaid.

Corinna sighed heavily as she looked out the window at the darkened sky. She saw her faint reflection and wondered when the bags under her eyes had become luggage. "I don't know what to think, Hermione. I honestly don't know."

Corinna's head swam that night as she went over and over her conversation with Hermione, being more honest than she cared to admit.

She felt like a zombie for the rest of term and hardly noticed the transition to the summer term and the increase in homework as exams approached. She took the workload in stride since there wasn't much of anything else she could possibly do beside worry so much she became ill.

At least, until she the night she was being woken up by McGonagall.

She had just gotten to sleep when she was being roused.

"I'm sorry to wake you, Miss Crouch," she said. It was almost a relief that she was still in her usual robes instead of her dressing gown, which was something that Corinna has had the unfortunate pleasure of seeing. "It's about your father. Let's get you to Professor Dumbledore's office. He will be able to explain it."

Blood rushed to her ears as she shoved on her dressing gown and followed McGonagall out of the dormitories. Not many students were up, but all of them watched the two of them with curious glances. Corinna could not look at them, not even at Harry sitting in the corner with Ron and Hermione.

Once they were heading down the hall, Corinna couldn't help but ask: "Is he alright? What happened?"

"As I said, Professor Dumbledore will be able to explain it better."

They approached the gargoyle and McGonagall said, "Cockroach Cluster," causing Corinna to think this was all some sick joke. But the gargoyle leapt to the side to reveal a staircase leading up. "I'll be out here so I can take you back to your dormitory."

Corinna figured it must not have been serious if she was expected back as she walked up the staircase and opened the heavy door at the top.

As she had never been in Dumbledore's office before, she did not know what to expect. Along the walls were portraits of what she could honest guess were those of headmaster's past. A wide desk stood in the circular room, as well as tables displaying various mechanisms that Corinna could hardly place.

The wizened wizard sat at his desk in his sweeping robes. "I apologize for drawing you out of bed at this late hour," he greeted somberly. He was usually a jovial man with his serious side saved for moments that truly needed it. Corinna supposed this was one of those times. "Please sit down, Corinna. I am going to cut to the chase as I find it much easier to handle, I'm sure you would agree. Earlier this evening, Harry Potter and Viktor Krum were at the edge of the woods when they came across your father, Barty Crouch. According to Harry, he seemed very out of it and that he needed to apologize for a grave error he made. Before Harry could come back with help, he had stunned Viktor and ran off."

None of this made sense to Corinna, and she was at a total loss as to what to say about any of this.

"A team from the Ministry is combing the grounds for him as we speak," Dumbledore continued. "I thought it appropriate to talk with you about this. I will share what you have to say to those that need to know within the Ministry."

Corinna swallowed thickly as she looked out the window without really seeing. It almost seemed impossible that her father was out there when he was gone for so long. "I don't know what to say," she admitted. "All I know is that he was sick."

"Did he tell you this himself?"

Corinna might as well have been forced to drink veritaserum as she did not think she could lie to this man. "Not in so many words," she admitted. "I heard from his assistant, Percy Weasley."

Dumbledore nodded. "How about any correspondents?"

"I only sent him a letter, to which he never replied. We aren't the communication sort, I suppose."

"I have to ask. When was the last time you saw your father?"

"During the first task," Corinna admitted, feeling guilty. "I stayed over the holidays for the Yule Ball, and he hasn't been back to judge as he's supposed to.

He seemed to take the answer in stride and nodded. "Am I to assume that you do not know anything about what transpired tonight?" He asked it in a way that he had already knew the answer, so Corinna simply nodded. "I am sure someone from the ministry will want to talk with you, Corinna, but I will ask them that they will not bother you any further tonight. If you can think of anything. Anything at all, let someone know. We are here to help and we all want Barty found safe."

Corinna hesitated a moment, trying to think past the headache building behind her eyes. "What's going to happen?" she asked.

"We will continue to look for him," Dumbledore said. "If you need some time, you are welcome to miss out on classes tomorrow. I can notify your teachers as such. I can also send you to Madam Pomfrey for a sleepy draught if you require."

She declined it all. "Just remember, Corinna," he said in a gentle voice, "that help will always be given at Hogwarts to those who ask for it."

She silently walked with McGonagall back to Gryffindor Tower. Even fewer students were inside now, leaving only Harry, Ron, and Hermione sitting by the fire.

"Shouldn't you all be heading for bed?" McGonagall demanded. "Unless you were planning on sleeping in my class, that is."

They all had scrambled to bed. Hermione kept glancing over at Corinna as they readied themselves for bed, but she remained silent. Corinna was silently thankful for that as she felt like she was going to explode at any minute.


	5. In Which Corinna has the Worst Birthday

Corinna was very close to completing her fourth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. By now, she should be fully aware of how gossip and rumors go around faster than a virus. But she did not expect the entire school to know about what happened with her father before the owl post even arrived.

As the girl who tried to blend into the crowd, Corinna certainly didn't like the fact that people were pointing and whispering at her whenever she walked down the hallway, or sat down at the Gryffindor table to pretend to eat her food. It used to be, whenever someone mentioned her, the typical response would be: "Corinna Crouch who?" Instead it is now: "Oh, the one with the crazy father who attacked Viktor Krum?"

Even Terry broke the silence as he approached Corinna while she was waiting to enter the greenhouses for Herbology. "Are you okay?" he asked gently.

"No," she admitted softly as she picked at her cuticle until it started to bleed. "Through all this, I don't know who's taking care of my brother."

"Why don't you ask? I'm sure they sent him to St. Mungo's or something."

"Yeah, maybe," Corinna mumbled, almost glad that he had to rush with the other students back inside the castle.

It also seemed that the Aurors could not find anything. There were no leads as to where Mr. Crouch could have gone. It was as if he had disappeared off the face of the earth.

Corinna's birthday was usually marked the end of exams. This year, it seemed, was going to be the worse day of her life.

She was surprised to find a package for her as she sat for a meager breakfast, worrying more about her exams that day than the fact that she was celebrating her fifteenth birthday alone. She unwrapped the brown package that was addressed from no one. She supposed she should be concerned about that, but curiosity got the best of her. Inside was a necklace with an onyx colored stone in a gold setting. In the middle of the stone was some odd crest made from gold that Corinna could not place. The only other thing in the package besides the velvet box with the necklace was a note in meticulous penmanship. "I should have given this to you years ago," it said simply with no signature or any indication on who could have sent it. She doubted it was her brother. Most days, he could not even hold a quill, and when he did manage to, it looked like a little kid had written it.

Not trusting to put the piece around her neck in fear that it might somehow be cursed, she shoved the velvet box and note into her bag to be forgotten in light of her exams and the final task that would occur that evening.

It was easy to turn it off and focus on her exams. She went from class to class numbly. A few people wished her a happy birthday, but people mostly left her alone.

Dinner was a grand affair as it marked the end of exams and people could focus all their attention on watching the third task. With the two Hogwarts champions tied for first, the excitement (and bets) were running high. Even Corinna could not help but get swept up in the moment as she accepted a small flag from one of the Creevey brothers in support of Harry Potter.

At dusk, they had all walked out to the quidditch pitch that had been transformed into a vast maze. If the late-night training sessions Harry had with Ron and Hermione were any indication, he was going to do well against whatever was waiting for the champions among the hedges.

Corinna sat with the other Gryffindors, taking up much of the top rows to get the best view of the maze. She sat behind Ron and Hermione who did not seem as jovial as the rest of them. She did not understand what they were worried about with all the practice they had done. And it was Harry Potter. He has faced more danger in his first few years in Hogwarts than most wizards would deal with in their entire lifetime.

But maybe that was why there was an edge to them. Even if Harry had managed to get himself out of all those situations before, it did not guarantee anything now.

With the sound of the cannon, Harry and Diggory went into the maze first, both with their wands out in preparation for whatever was to come. Corinna tried to focus on the excitement around her, even if the worry coming from his friends were palpable.

She also noticed how antsy Moody seemed to be. He kept glancing at his pocket watch and over to where Corinna guessed the cup was hidden for the champions to find. She hadn't dealt with the man since he gave her that cryptic message beyond what was necessary for classes. During her defense practical, when she was able to shake off his Imperius curse, she swore he seemed to be proud of her, something he hadn't shown the other students, even those who did it faster than she had. She would not even get the honor of being the most improved student. That honor had gone to Neville Longbottom.

As the time ticked by, both Fleur Delacour and Viktor Krum were taken out of the maze, leaving only the Hogwarts champions. It seemed like hours before both Harry and Diggory appeared in the center of the pitch with the cup. Everyone from Hogwarts leapt up with excitement as it meant that both their champions seemed to have won (something Corinna very much doubted anyone had bet would happen), when the cheers seemed to have died away as quickly as they had come. Harry was being pulled away from Diggory by Moody, his voice barely heard this far up. And as Diggory laid unmoving, a hush greater than the one during the reaping fell over everyone. A silencing charm could not have done the same amount of damage as saying one of their peers dead.

Corinna could hear Cho's sharp sobs from where she sat with the other Diggory supporters, and Amos Diggory had pushed his way onto the pitch, begging for his son. A lump formed in her throat as she barely heard McGonagall calling for the students in her house to follow her back to the castle. It seemed that everyone was eager to leave and head back to their dorms. She saw Ron and Hermione break away, probably to look for Harry, but they had whisked him away from the scene, which was perfectly understandable.

Corinna had never seen so many people sitting around the common room in silence since her second year when Hermione Granger and Penelope Clearwater were found petrified and the curfews became much, much stricter from then on. Corinna had thought of sneaking up to her dorm room, but she stayed down and sat with some of her follow fourth years. Even Ron and Hermione were there, as it seemed they could not find Harry. Knowing how Dumbledore was, he was probably hiding Harry away from everyone else to protect him from the vulture-like students who would bug him about what exactly happened in that cursed maze.

When McGonagall came back into the dorm, everyone looked over at her expecting some sort of news or explanation, but she made a beeline to where the fourth years were sitting. "Miss Crouch," she said, and Corinna did not like how shaken the unflappable Minerva McGonagall usually was. "If you would come with me please."

"Why me?" Corinna asked. She was not used to being pulled away like this.

McGonagall's lips were a thin, straight line as she shook her head. "Not here," she whispered. "Just come with me."

Corinna glanced over at Ron and Hermione, as they were easier to look at than everyone else. As a friend of Harry Potter's they were used to things like this since he always got himself into some sort of trouble. Hermione just gave her a reassuring nod as Corinna finally stood and woodenly followed McGonagall out.

She expected to go to Dumbledore's office, but the continued down and made their way to where Moody's office was. McGonagall barged in and Corinna followed her in, baffled by the scene in front of her. Harry sat in the corner, shaken and pale to the point that his bloody injuries looked black against his skin. Dumbledore had his wand trained on a man in much too large robes and bound to a chair. It took Corinna's mind much, much too long to process who exactly was sitting in that chair. His long, mousey hair hid his face.

"Barty," she said. She made to rush over to him, but McGonagall grabbed her arm.

"Thank you for bringing Corinna here, Minerva," Dumbledore said calmly. "Severus should be back in a moment, then we can get this underway."

Corinna's breath hitched as she stared at her brother. All year, she had been worried about him, but now that he was sitting here, bound and knocked out, she did not know what to think. She wanted to beg someone, anyone for answers, but she found herself as mute as Harry as he struggled to keep his head up.

Snape appeared behind them, carrying a clear vial with him. Behind him walked a dazed Winky, and Corinna felt McGonagall's grip on her tighten as she saw her old house elf for the first time since that shameful night. But, again, she was at a loss for words. Snape handed the vial off to Dumbledore and crossed his arms as he stared at Barty, looking almost bored. Corinna still did not understand as Dumbledore tipped the vial into Barty's mouth and used the Ennervate charm to bring him back from being stunned.

"Can you hear me?" Dumbledore asked as Barty seemed to slowly wake. After a moment, he nodded. "I would like you to tell us," he continued softly, "how you came to be here. How did you escape from Azkaban?"

"Azkaban?" Corinna could not help but say when she heard that question. "He's never been to Azkaban."

Barty's eyes darted over to Corinna as he gave her an unreadable expression. "My mother saved me," he said in an emotionless manner, ignoring Corinna's outburst. "She knew she was dying. She persuaded my father to rescue me as a last favor to her. He loved her as he had never loved me. He agreed. They came to visit me. They gave me a draft of Polyjuice Potion containing one of my mother's hairs. She took a draft of Polyjuice Potion containing one of my hairs. We took on each other's appearance."

Corinna did not like the sound of Barty's voice. Even on his good days, he was still shaky and easily lost focus on what he was saying. Hearing him like this, like someone who was reading a boring passage from a book aloud, made her nerves feel like they were on fire.

Winky trembled at what Barty was saying, begging him to say no more of the matter. But, that was the thing about truth serum: you didn't have much of a choice.

"The dementors are blind. They sensed one healthy, one dying person entering Azkaban. They sensed one healthy, one dying person leaving it. My father smuggled me out, disguised as my mother, in case any prisoners were watching through their door.

"My mother died a short while afterward in Azkaban. She was careful to drink Polyjuice Potion until the end. She was buried under my name and bearing my appearance. Everyone believed her to be me.

Corinna felt like her knees were going to collapse from under her. McGonagall conjured a stool next to Harry's and forced Corinna to sit down. Now McGonagall stood between the two of them, as if she alone could shield them from the horrors in front of them.

"What did your father do with you, when he had got you home?" Dumbledore asked, continuing with the interrogation.

"Staged my mother's death. A quiet, private funeral. That grave is empty. The house elf nursed me back to health. Then I had to be concealed. I had to be controlled. My father had to use a number of spells to subdue me. When I had recovered my strength, I thought only of finding my master. Of returning to his service.

All this time, she thought her brother had been sick. Turns out, he was under her father's spell. As it turned out, he was using the imperious curse on his own son and Corinna was none the wiser to what was really going on inside the place she had called home.

"I was forced to stay in my room, under an invisibility cloak. I was always with the house elf. But she pitied me, along with Corinna." McGonagall squeezed Corinna's shoulder so hard, she thought it would bruise. "They would persuade my father to give me occasional treats. Rewards for my good behavior."

"Master Barty, Master Barty!" Corinna winced as Winky begged Barty to not say anymore of the subject. Corinna herself even felt like bolting, not wanting to hear anymore of how messed up her family really was.

"Did anybody ever discover that you were still alive? Did anyone know except your father, your sister, and the house elf?"

"Yes," said Barty, looking back at Corinna again with a wild, murderous look. It seemed he was struggling to hold something back. She had to look away, opting to stare down at her trainers instead. "A witch in my father's office. Bertha Jorkins. She came to the house with papers for my father's signature. He was not at home. Winky showed her inside and returned to the kitchen, to me. But Bertha Jorkins heard Winky talking to me. She came to investigate. She heard enough to guess who was hiding under the Invisibility Cloak. My father arrived home. She confronted him. He put a very powerful Memory Charm on her to make her forget what she'd found out. Too powerful. He said it damaged her memory permanently."

It must have occurred while Corinna was at Hogwarts. She was not there for that incident. She would have remembered. Or, she hoped she would have. It terrified her to know that her father was good at memory charms.

"Tell me about the Quidditch World Cup."

"Corinna talked my father into it," Barty continued. Despite everything that Corinna was thinking and feeling, she noticed how Barty had said my father instead of our father. She then thought it was a rather silly thing for her brain to focus on, but maybe that was her way of dealing with this whole thing. Focus on the vernacular instead of the meaning behind it. "She thought I was sick and that he was ashamed of me for it. She knew that I liked to listen to quidditch matches and wanted me to experience a match for myself. She reassured him that she and Winky will be there, that I'll be under the invisibility cloak. He agreed in the end."

"It was carefully planned. My father led me, Winky, and Corinna up to the Top Box early in the day. Winky was to say that she was saving a seat for my father while they sat with me, invisible. When everyone lef the box, we would emerge. Winky and Corinna would appear to be alone. Nobody would ever know."

"But they didn't know I was growing stronger. I was starting to fight my father's Imperius Curse. There were times when I was almost myself again. There were brief periods when I seemed outside his control. It happened, there, in the Top Box. It was like waking from a deep sleep. I found myself out in public, in the middle of the match, and I saw, in front of me, a wand sticking out of a boy's pocket. I had not been allowed a wand since before Azkaban. Even Corinna was instructed not to have hers with her whenever she came to sit with me. I stole it. Winky and Corinna didn't know. Winky is frightened of heights. She had her face hidden. And Corinna was absorbed in the game.

"You took the wand. What did you do with it?"

"We went back to the tent. Corinna snuck out to be with her friends, so it was just me and Winky. Then we heard them. We heard the Death Eaters. The ones who had never been to Azkaban. The ones who never suffered for my master. They had turned their backs on him. They were not enslaved, as I was. They were free to seek him, but they did not. They were merely making sport of Muggles. The sound of their voices awoke me. My mind was clearer than it had been in years. I was angry. I had the wand. I wanted to attack them for their disloyalty to my master. Winky was afraid to see me so angry. She used her own brand of magic to bind me to her. She pulled me from the tent, pulled me into the forest, away from the Death Eaters. I tried to hold her back. I wanted to return to the campsite. I wanted to show those Death Eaters what loyalty to the Dark Lord meant, and to punish them for their lack of it. I used the stolen wand to cast the Dark Mark into the sky.

Corinna was transported back to that night. Her brother was there under the mark, just like her instincts had told her. But she remembered Terry holding her back. Why did he hold her back? Why did he make her stay with his family when she needed to go find her brother? She felt like she should know the answer, but it was just out of her grasp.

"Ministry wizards arrived," Barty continued, dragging Corinna back to reality. "They shot Stunning Spells everywhere. One of the spells came through the trees where Winky and I stood. They bond connecting us was broken. We were both stunned. When Winky was discovered, my father knew I must be nearby. He searched the bushes where she had been found and felt me lying there. He waiting until the other Ministry members had left the forest. He put me back under the Imperius curse and took me back to the tent. He dismissed Winky and blamed Corinna when she came back after running from the Death Eaters. They had let me acquire a wand. They had almost let me escape."

"Now it was just Father, Corinna, and I, alone in the house. But, soon, it would be just Father and I since she was going back to Hogwarts. And then…and then…" A wicked grin spread across Barty's face, and Corinna felt bile burn her throat. "My master came for me."

"He arrived at our house late one night in the arms of his servant, Wormtail. My master had found out that I was still alive. He had captured Bertha Jorkins in Albania. He had tortured her. She told him a great deal. She told him about the Triwizard Tournament. She told him the old Auror, Moody, was going to teach at Hogwarts. He tortured her until he broke through the memory charm my father had placed upon her. She told him I had escaped from Azkaban. She told him my father kept me imprisoned to prevent me from seeking my master. And so my master knew I was still his faithful servant—perhaps the most faithful of all. My master conceived a plan, based upon the information Bertha had given him. He needed me. He arrived at our house near midnight. My father answered the door."

"It was very quick. My father was placed under the Imperius curse by my master. Now my father was the one imprisoned, controlled. My master forced him to go about his business as usual, to act as though nothing was wrong. And I was released. I awoke. I was myself again, alive as I hadn't been in years. There was only one loose end." Barty looked back over at Corinna. "My master knew it would look suspicious if she did not return to Hogwarts, so I obliviated her memory of that night. With Father being controlled, we made it seem like he had me locked in my room and forbade her to go in there. Besides, she was leaving soon anyway. We thought it would be an unnecessary risk to do anything else to her. And I…I didn't want to." It was odd to hear about something that had happened to Corinna but she had no recollection of it. But, it had to be true. Snape wouldn't make a faulty truth serum.

"What did Lord Voldemort ask you to do?"

Corinna automatically hissed at hearing the name. It was something that children born to wizard parents would hear only once and then never again. People feared that saying the name would evoke him. Everyone ignored her was Barty gladly answered Dumbledore's question.

"He asked me whether I was ready to risk everything for him. I was ready. It was my dream. My greatest ambition. To serve him. To prove myself to him. He told me he needed to place a faithful servant at Hogwarts. A servant who would guide Harry Potter through the Triwizard Tournament without appearing to do so. A servant who would watch over Harry Potter. Ensure he reached the Triwizard Cup. Turn the cup into a Portkey, which would take the first person to touch it to my master. But first—"

"You needed Alastor Moody."

"Wormtail and I did it. We had prepared the Polyjuice Potion beforehand. We journeyed to his house. Moody put up a struggle. There was a commotion. We managed to subdue him just in time. Forced him into a compartment of his own magical trunk. Took some of his hair and added it to the potion. I drank it. I became Moody's double. I took his leg and his eye. I was ready to face Arthur Weasley when he arrived to sort out the Muggles who had heard a disturbance. I made the dustbins move around the yard. I told Arthur Weasley I had heard intruders in my yard, who had set off the dustbins. Then I packed up Moody's clothes and dark detectors, put them in the trunk with Moody, and set off for Hogwarts. I kept him alive, under the Imperius curse. I wanted to be able to question him. To find out about his past, learn his habits, so that I could food even Dumbledore. I also needed his hair to make the Polyjuice Potion. The other ingredients were easy. I stole boom-slang skin from the dungeons. When the potions master found me in his office, I said I was under orders to search it."

"And what became of Wormtail after you attacked Moody?"

"Wormtail returned to care for my master, in my father's house, and to keep watch over my father."

"But your father escaped."

"Yes. After a while, he began to fight the Imperius curse, just as I had done. There were periods when he knew what was happening. My master decided it was no longer safe for my father to leave the house. He forced him to send letters to the Ministry instead. He made his write and say he was ill. I even did what I could to keep Corinna here. Persuading that Terrance Boot to muster up the courage to ask her to the Yule Ball so she had a reason to stay. But Wormtail neglected his duty. He was not watchful enough. My father escaped. My master guessed that he was heading for Hogwarts. My father was going to tell Dumbledore everything, to confess. He was going to admit that he had smuggled me from Azkaban.

"My master sent me word of my father's escape. He told me to stop him at all costs. So I waited and watched. I used the map I had taken from Harry Potter. The map that had almost ruined everything.

"Map?" asked Dumbledore, mirroring Corinna's confusion. "What map is this?"

"Potter's map of Hogwarts. Potter saw me on it. Potter saw me stealing more ingredients for the Polyjuice Potion from Snape's office one night. He thought I was my father. We have the same first name. I took the map from Potter that night. I told him my father hated dark wizards. Potter believed my father was after Snape.

"For a week I waited for my father to arrive at Hogwarts. At least, one evening, the map showed my father entering the grounds. I pulled on my invisibility cloak and went down to meet him. He was walking around the edge of the forest. Then Potter came, and Krum. I waited. I could not hurt Potter. My master needed him. Potter ran to get Dumbledore. I stunned Krum. I killed my father."

A knife to her gut would have had the same effect as Corinna heard those words, said in an almost bored voice. It was one thing to know he was missing. There was still hope that someone would find him or that he would turn up. With him missing, there was hope. Now, now there was nothing. In just those four words, Corinna Crouch became an orphan.

Tears swam in Corinna's eyes as she tried to make sense of everything that was going on. She wanted to run, to scream, to cry, to die. But she just sat there, rooted to the stool as if it had sprouted arms to hold her there. Without realizing it, Harry, who was silent and unmoving throughout the entire interrogation, shifted his hand to take his grungy one in hers. It just felt cold and clammy in hers, not bringing her comfort like she would have hoped.

"What did you do with the body?"

"Carried it into the forest. Covered it with the invisibility cloak. I had the map with me. I watched Potter run into the castle. He met Snape. Dumbledore joined them. I watched Potter bringing Dumbledore out of the castle. I walked back out of the forest, doubled around behind them, went to meet them. I told Dumbledore Snape had told me where to come.

"Dumbledore told me to go and look for my father. I went back to my father's body. Watched the map. When everyone was gone, I transfigured my father's body. He became a bone…I buried it, while wearing the invisibility cloak, in the freshly dug earth in front of Hagrid's cabin.

"And tonight?" Dumbledore implored.

"I offered to carry the Triwizard Cup into the maze before dinner. Turned it into a Portkey. My master's plan worked. He is returned to power and I will be honored by him beyond the dreams of wizards."

"You monster!" Corinna cried out, breaking apart from Harry and McGonagall. She stood just a couple of meters from Barty, but it felt like there was an entire chasm between them. Now, when she looked at the man, she no longer saw her brother. She saw a monster with a wicked, hungry grin. "How…how could you do that to our father?"

"Our father?" Barty spit out. It was the first time he showed anger instead of indifference or glee. "What do you mean our father?"

The anger Corinna felt burst through her chest died out quickly by those words. "What do you mean?" she asked, her voice sounding more like she had just turned five instead of fifteen.

"He's not your father. I am."

The blow would have knocked her on her feet if Snape had not stepped forward to grab her arm.

"That was another one of my mother's dying wishes," Barty continued, each word feeling like a punch to the gut. "Father used his influence before he was disgraced to take in a ward of the Ministry. A child of two death eaters that were sent to Azkaban after my master fell. Except the wife was unfaithful. You were the spitting image of my mother, so there was no denying who the true father really was. She was also one of my master's greatest servant. What better pair to birth a child who could one day serve alongside us."

Blood rushed to Corinna's ears as the silence came over the group. McGonagall looked like she wanted nothing more than to whisk Corinna and Harry away from this awful, awful man, but Dumbledore kept a hand up to reassure her that this needed to be done. Corinna felt like she needed to ask, but she felt like she was going to throw up if she opened her mouth. With mixed feelings about him doing so, Dumbledore finally asked when Corinna couldn't: "Who is her mother?"

"Bellatrix Lestrange."

Corinna just stood there. She had never heard that name before, but it seemed that everyone else in the room knew exactly who she was. Even Harry seemed to react, giving Corinna a pitying look that she absolutely loathed.

She heard nothing else as Dumbledore jumped into action. He told McGonagall and Snape what to do, and it seemed that Snape was about to take Corinna away when she shifted her arm away from him. "No," she said. "I want to stay here."

"It's alright, Corinna," Dumbledore said in a kind voice. "Madam Pomfrey will be able to give you something so you can rest. Tonight has been very taxing."

Corinna swallowed thickly. As much as she wanted to be far, far away from this man, she also knew what she needed to do for herself and for her father. Of, grandfather, rather. "I need to make sure that the monster who has inflicted so much pain gets what he deserves."

"I'll watch her, Albus," McGonagall promised, but she was less than thrilled about it. "I'll get her to the hospital wing once the Minister gets up here. You have other matters to tend to." She motioned towards Harry who looked like he was about to pass out from standing on his injured leg.

With the assignments passed out and everyone else gone, McGonagall added a few more ropes around Crouch, making sure they were extra tight. "Can you make them tighter?" Corinna asked in an impossibly small voice.

"It won't change anything," McGonagall said stiffly as she kept her wand pointed at Crouch. "Just as it won't change finding out who your parents are. You are still the same person you were an hour ago."

Corinna wished more than anything to believe McGonagall, but she could not bring herself to. She was still Corinna Crouch, but the meaning of it completely changed.

She sat on the stool as the minutes ticked by. Crouch stared down at the ground, remaining silent now that no one was asking him any questions. The cold crept up inside Corinna, feeling like she was suffocating in her own misery. Little did she realize that there was an outside influence to all this.

"What is that thing doing inside the castle?" McGonagall demanded as she stepped in front of Corinna, readying her wand. "What is the meaning of this, Minister?"

"You are dismissed, Professor," Fudge said as he stood behind what looked like a floating cloak of smoke. Corinna remembered the feeling that the dementors inflicted wherever they went from last year. She had already felt like she was never going to be happy, but now she felt like that was all too true. "I need to interrogate Crouch myself."

"But you—" McGonagall froze when the dementor immediately rushed passed them and it took all of Corinna's strength not to fall over and lose consciousness. The dementor gripped onto Crouch and he began to scream, sounding less like the monster that he was and more like a terrified man who was about to come face-to-face with his own mortality. McGonagall had dived to hide Corinna's face from witnessing something worse than a person dying. The dementor had administered the fatal kiss—the kiss that would suck the very soul out of Crouch and leaving him worse than dead.


	6. In Which the Minister Screws Everything Up

Corinna barely processed what happened after that. She remembered McGonagall yelling worse than anything she had ever heard the transfiguration teacher utter. She remembered being dragged into the hospital wing where she saw the brood of Weasleys and Hermione surrounding Harry's bed as she was all but shoved into her own.

She sat there, unmoving as everyone seemed to argue around her. Although she had never met the woman in her life, Mrs. Weasley seemed to have adopted her and was trying to shield her from whatever the adults were discussing. It was almost too much for her to handle, and she wanted nothing more than to press her face into the pillow and force the entire world to fade away.

It was as if her brain had gathered too much information and refused to retain anymore. She heard their voices, but processed and felt nothing about it. She supposed that could be normal. Eventually, she saw Fudge dropped a bag full of galleons on Harry's bed and left unceremoniously. Dumbledore immediately jumped into action to deal with You-Know-Whose return.

Later on, Corinna would find it almost hilarious that she hadn't even realized that the darkest wizard had come back from the dead. That seemed to pale in comparison to everything else she had heard tonight.

"Crouch." Madam Pomfrey had put up some privacy curtains, something she only realized once she was pulled away from her thoughts. "Take this. It will help you get a dreamless sleep. Be sure to drink it all, or else you will end up like Potter."

Without questioning what Madam Pomfrey meant by that, she gladly drained the glass, wanting nothing more than to escape.

Corinna had never felt as lost as she had before in her life, even after all those months of uncertainty. She woke the next morning to the privacy curtains down. She saw Ron and Hermione gathered around Harry's bed, talking in low voices. She tried to remember what happened last night, but she did not remember much after her brother was dealt the dementor's kiss.

No, father. The man she grew up knowing as her brother was her father. She had heard of such a thing happening before when it came to young parents and the grandparents taking them in and lying about the circumstances of their birth. She had read it in some of the novels she liked to read for fun. She never expected that to become her life.

And then there was the mystery that was Bellatrix Lestrange. She was almost afraid to find out about her, especially since Barty made it seem that her loyalty to You-Know-Who was comparable to his. But she found herself in the library, odd as most students wouldn't want to step foot among the dusty volumes once they were done with their exams. She had poured over ancient copies of the Daily Prophet from around the time she was born. She had found a paper from just a few weeks of her being born about how Bellatrix Lestrange (née Black) and her husband, Rudolphus, were arrested and charged for torturing Aurors Frank and Alice Longbottom into insanity. Corinna felt like she was going to be sick and quickly put the volumes away, unable to stomach any more information.

The Daily Prophet released the news as to what Bartemius Crouch Jr. had done. Or, at least, what the Ministry claimed to have happened. According to the Prophet, Crouch was working alone in impersonating ex-Auror Alastor Moody, killing Cedric Diggory, and attempting to kill Harry Potter. Him receiving the dementor's kiss before a full trial was a regrettable miscalculation on the Ministry's part but, given what he told Dumbledore and other witnesses, he had given a full confession, even if the Ministry-approved confession was hogwash.

Then there was the mystery of what was going to happen with Corinna once the term ended. The man whom she thought was her father is now dead, the man who was her real father is now in the process of dying a slow and painful death, and the woman who was supposedly her mother was rightfully stuck in Azkaban for the rest of her life. Corinna had no other family.

At least, that is what she had thought.

McGonagall had called her into her office the morning before the end of term feast. She still looked angry, yet determined, given what had happened just a few days prior. "Given what you have just learned, we decided to leave it up to you whether you wanted to have contact with your mother's family."

Just hearing that made Corinna's blood curdle. "I want nothing to do with them," she said firmly.

"Not all of them are Death Eaters, if that is what you are concerned about."

"It's not just that," Corinna said. "I'm just…I'm not ready to suddenly have a new family when this one had just fallen apart."

McGonagall seemed to understand and left it at that. "There is still the problem of you needing a guardian as you are fourteen years old." Corinna decided against correcting McGonagall. Maybe she could pretend that day never happened if she claimed to still be fourteen.

"What about Winky?"

"I'm sorry, I don't believe I heard you correctly," McGonagall said in a tone that implied that she heard Corinna very quickly but was giving her an opening to amend what was said. "Did you just suggest that a house elf could be your guardian?"

"She's the closest thing to a family I have," Corinna explained.

"Even if I did not object to such a thing, the law would never allow it. Winky is not in a right state as she, according to some of the other house elves in our employ, she has been spending all day drinking butterbeer to forget what had transpired in Alastor's office. She is also not your house elf as your erm…as Mr. Crouch had dismissed her last summer. That is not a contract that can be unbroken."

"What do you think I should do?" Corinna asked softly, looking terrified at what the future held for her.

"Do you have any friends you could stay with during the holidays?"

"I can ask around. I should have an answer for you sometime before the end of term."

McGonagall pursed her lips. "I would like an answer before the feast tonight. Dumbledore is planning on honoring Cedric Diggory and I would like this to be sorted out before then."

Corinna found Terry with the other Ravenclaws soaking up the warmth by the Black Lake. It was the first time she had been outside since that night, and the heat seemed to squeeze her chest. Or maybe it was just the nerves that made her entire body feel like she was on fire.

He hadn't noticed her at first. It took a sharp elbow from Mandy for him to look up at Corinna. "Can we talk?" she asked in a small voice.

Terry did not seem like he wanted to, but he grudgingly stood up and walked with Corinna. She thought about going to their spot in the library, but she did not want that spot tainted with what she was about to admit to him. So, instead, they decided to walk along the Black Lake to the other side where there were far fewer students, most of whom were in their own little world.

"First, I just wanted to say that I am sorry for being a shite friend," Corinna began slow when Terry refused to say anything, forcing her to make the first move. "I'm not going to even make any excuses. I was rude and I pushed you away. If I could take it all back, I would. So, I'm…I'm sorry, Terry."

"Okay," he said, not accepting it or forgiven, simply acknowledging that Corinna had said it. She knew that was all she was going to get from him for right now, so she continued.

"You know what happened to my dad," Corinna said, deciding against telling him what really happened. Maybe, someday, there might be a time and a place where they were friends again and she was ready to tell someone else about it. But, for right now, she wanted to keep this information between herself and the four others that heard Barty's unfortunate tail. She wanted even worried about Harry saying anything. She had a feeling he wanted to forget that night just as much as she wanted to. "I don't have any other family, and I am still underage." She swallowed thickly. "I am not asking your parents to take me in. I don't think either of us want that right now." Terry nodded in agreement. "Instead, can I just tell McGonagall that I will be staying with you for the summer? I don't have anyone else I can trust with this."

Terry was silent for a long moment. This was possibly the longest he had ever not said a word. As she debated whether or not she was going to slap him to see if he was still alive, he said, "Where will you go?"

"My house," Corinna answered with a shrug. "It's technically mine now. And my father was a frugal man. He has enough money in his Gringott's vault in order for me to live comfortably until I'm done with school."

Terry looked torn about that, but the confliction in his eyes was apparent. "If I tell my parents about this, they will insist on taking you in. They're just like that."

"Then don't tell them," Corinna said. "Any sort of parcel sent to me from the school will reroute to the house, and McGonagall will trust your parents to take care of me. We all know you come from good people."

It was another pregnant pause before he finally said, "Yeah, alright. But I'm going to insist on you sending me an owl every week, just to make sure you are alive. I'm…I'm not ready to forgive you, but I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I didn't help you at a time like this."

"It's more than I deserve," Corinna reassured. "And I can't thank you enough, Terry." They were just about to walk around the last bend back towards where his friends were lounging, watching us with a critical eye. She could only guess what they all thought of her. "I'll see you later, Terry."

Corinna could not bring herself to go to the feast that evening. Instead, she focused on packing her trunk. She had shoved her homework and notes from that year into her bag, and she paused when she heard her potions text hit something at the bottom. She dug in and pulled out the velvet box she received on her birthday. She could now guess that Barty had sent it to her, but the crest still eluded her. Knowing the library was now closed for the term, she went over to the pile of books Hermione had not put in her trunk and grabbed one on the subject of the ancient wizarding houses. She already knew that it wasn't the Crouch insignia as it was on a plaque that hung on their mantel. She tried Lestrange, but the rendering in the book did not match. Of course not, Corinna thought bitterly. She wasn't a Lestrange. She would technically be a Black, her mother's maiden name.

She used the index to find the chapter on the Black family and her heart sank when she compared the image in the book to the image on the necklace. It was exactly the same.

She tossed the book back onto Hermione's pile and went over to the window. Someone had opened it to let the evening breeze into the dorm, and the setting sun caused an orange glow to spread across the grounds and created long shadows. She glanced down at the necklace one last time. Without thinking, she threw the necklace as hard as she could and watched it sail passed the spires until it disappeared.

"That's what I think of you, Bellatrix Lestrange," Corinna muttered under her breath before turning to finish her task.

The journey back to London was a muted affair for Corinna. She managed to get a compartment to herself and managed to keep it that way for the entire ride. Of course, it probably had something to do with what Barty had done. She was tainted, and she did not blame anyone for keeping their distance. She wished she could do the same.

As she stepped onto the platform in London, her heart sank when she realized that Mr. Crouch would never be there to pick her up, looking impatient as he had to carve out time from his busy day to do this. He was not there to rush her along so he could take her home and then get back to whatever meeting or task he had scheduled.

For the first time ever, she crossed over the barrier to the muggle side of King's Cross, alone. She exited the train station, alone. She went home to an empty house, alone.


End file.
